3-2-1: Final position battles and hidden yardage

These are starting to become more and more bleak to write.

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Following the Ohio State game, there was still a sense of confidence in this team. It was just Arch Manning’s first career road start, and the defense still looked elite. Parker Livingstone was a bright spot, the offensive line had a decent day, and it felt like the offense as a whole had room to grow.

Even after San Jose State, the vibe was pretty solid. Sure, Manning and Ryan Wingo still weren’t connecting, but the defense continued to look elite, and the offense found explosives with Livingstone and TE Jack Endries.

Then UTEP comes around, and it’s an all-out disaster. Manning has a 0-10 stretch in the second quarter, Texas can’t convert on third downs, and the Longhorns scored just 27 points on a bad Conference USA team.

Heading into Sam Houston, I don’t really know what I know about this team, but we can do our best.

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1st Thing I Know: The RB3 Tryout is reaching its final stage

Texas knows what it has at RB1 and 2 this year. Quintrevion Wisner was a solid producer in 2024 who sets a strong floor as a rusher and a pass blocker, though he’s been injured the last two games. CJ Baxter has a bit more flash to his game with hopes of reaching stardom eventually in Austin, but he’s still got a ways to go. He won’t be playing on Saturday.

Texas, however, still needs to find that third running back to go with these two, preferably someone who can make explosive plays out of the backfield, given adequate blocking. Heading into the season, the clear frontrunner was Christian Clark, but I’m not sure that’s the case anymore.

James Simon was the sole bright spot of this offense last week, and his stats are far better than Clark’s so far. There’s also Jerrick Gibson, who needs to show once again that he can extend plays without coughing up the football.

Texas wants one of these three to emerge heading into SEC play. Which one will it be?

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2nd Thing I Know: The defense has a weakness, but they’re already looking to address it

I still firmly believe that this is the best defense in the nation, but there’s a clear weak point: defending the intermediate pass.

Texas has the athletes underneath to cover most short-yardage passes. Michael Taaffe and eventually Derek Williams, paired with a strong pass rush that teams fear, make it hard to throw the ball over top on Texas.

What is possible, though, is for teams to target CB2 Jaylon Guilbeau on the intermediate, gaining chunk but not explosive plays multiple times in a drive. Guilbeau was already the subject of Texas’ sole defensive failure of the year, giving up a deep touchdown to Ohio State’s Carnell Tate.

Still, Texas might be looking for more help there. Kobe Black has the chance to step up, and there’s a good shot Graceson Littleton gets some run on the outside this week. Look for them to try to find answers when offenses attempt to exploit that, especially Oklahoma’s John Mateer.

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3rd Thing I Know: Texas has to start winning the hidden yardage

When Texas had a good offense and elite defense last year, one of the key reasons they lost games was because of hidden yardage. Penalties and problems in special teams are the two places to look. Teams gain advantages through free yardage and being the better team on punts and kickoffs. In the snap of a finger, an offense can go from needing 80 yards on a drive to 60.

Texas is ALMOST there with the hidden yardage. Jack Bouwmeester seems like an elite punter pickup, and Ryan Niblett is finally starting to get plus yardage on punt returns. What needs to be shored up are the penalties and their own coverage units, thwarting any sort of return attempts.

If Texas’ offense is going to be in the bottom five in the SEC, they must be able to win games through the other two phases.

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1st Thing I Don’t Know: What they’ll do next with Arch Manning

This is such a conundrum. He’s obviously too talented to ever bench, and I am far from advocating that, but the struggles are clear. You don’t go 0-10 against UTEP and just forget about it.

With just one more ‘cupcake’ left on the schedule, what is the game plan with Manning? One last hurrah as a pure passer in a complicated offense, or a closer regression toward the power run, quick-pass style of play that promotes efficiency and ball control?

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2nd Thing I Don’t Know: Who’s healthy?

We know Baxter will be out, and we feel pretty good about Black also missing this game, but head coach Steve Sarkisian is so hard to pry this kind of information out of.

Texas has injury scares with Wisner, DeAndre Moore, Emmett Mosley, and Alex January. While we can keep saying they’ll be good by Florida, it would be nice to actually see a player like Mosley hit the field. The idea of these guys being a month or more removed from game action when they hit the gridiron in Gainesville is no bueno. I guess we’ll know on Saturday.

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One Thing I Want to Know: What’s the long-term goal with this offensive line?

If you’re keeping up with these articles, you’d know this is a direct copy and paste. Should I just copy and paste the blurb from last week, too?

That feels cheap, but unfortunately, the idea stays the same. What is Texas doing with this offensive line?

Are they just cool with this being the five, despite there being obvious problems with the group? It feels like four players are solidified, but are we sure Connor Stroh is the answer going into the year? I hate to keep harping on the guy, but he’s been bad! He has been a terrible run blocker who seems a step behind game speed against G6 players.

If we’re always hearing that Neto Umeozulu is a hard worker with strong determination, why hasn’t he locked this spot up yet? I don’t like the idea of switching centers into the season, but maybe the better idea is to have Cole Hutson at guard with Connor Robertson at center.

I do wonder if they experiment a bit on Saturday, as the production has been pretty mediocre to start the year.