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The Reheat: SJSU – Watching Texas grow up, one sloppy win at a time

by: RT Young09/07/25
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Parker Livingstone (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Welcome to The Reheat, a weekly recap of the previous day’s game, just popped out of the microwave. Look for it every Sunday, rain or shine.

For the past two seasons, week two represented the peak of the Longhorns football season. In 2023, Texas never played as well again as they did in Tuscaloosa. In 2024, it was as if who the Longhorns (namely Quinn Ewers) were in Ann Arbor dangled over everyone’s heads for the rest of the season.

After watching Texas and Arch Manning’s muggy, sloppy, frenetic 38–7 defeat of the San Jose Spartans, I’m pretty confident week two won’t be the peak of 2025.

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And if Longhorn fans can take a deep breath, that should be comforting. This team isn’t a finished product. College football is no longer about the pursuit of perfection. It’s about rounding into form. And though Texas is a long way from its final version, there’s plenty of time to figure it out.

Where the Longhorns under Ewers were like a python farting around with its food until it finally decided to suffocate it, Texas under Manning looks more like a Golden Retriever puppy still in its teenage years. The puppy doesn’t realize how big it is or what it’s capable of. It still jumps on the couch, paws its owner in the balls, and might take a shit on the living room rug. But make no mistake—there are flashes of precocious brilliance where you can see what’s coming.

Yesterday those flashes came in a short burst where Texas scored 28 points in less than five minutes of game clock. In that span, they forced three turnovers and bludgeoned the Spartans to a pulp. It’s obvious the Longhorns are living off a feast-or-famine approach. The long touchdowns to Parker Livingstone and Jack Endries illustrated it: score far, score fast, or don’t score at all.

After that explosion? Back to being a puppy. A horrible red-zone interception by Manning, a litany of stalled drives, and more than 100 yards of penalties. All before Arch decided to be spectacular one more time on a 20-yard touchdown run down the sideline. The victory was uneven, disjointed, and chest-pounding. There will be more like it.

It’s part of growing up.

Fire The Cannon for: The defense’s violent takeover of the game. Anthony Hill Jr. has put his own spin on the legendary Derrick Johnson fumble-forcing uppercut.

Horns Up on Offense for: It looked like white boy summer in Austin when Livingstone and Endries took over. So, can Ryan Wingo and Arch be roommates for a bit? Maybe there’s a Murphy bed at Arch and Parker’s place. Being roommates seems to be the key to quarterback/wide receiver combos on the Forty Acres.

Horns Up on Defense for: Too many defenders to single out just one. On rewatch I lost track of how many positive plays Trey Moore, Ty’Anthony Smith, Jaylon Guilbeau, and Michael Taaffe made. The front impressed too, especially Travis Shaw and Maraad Watson. Colin Simmons had a rough day, headlined by penalties. He’s pressing for sacks early, and like Wingo on offense, it feels like he’s trying to do too much.

Bevo’s Bucket for: 115 yards of penalties. Are they but a bug of youth and early-season sloppiness? Or a feature of Steve Sarkisian’s teams? Sadly, I lean toward the latter. It is what it is. Luckily, Texas is usually less penalized on the road and in big games.

Sarkometer (grading Steve Sarkisian): I trust Sark’s long view of the season. He’s not sacrificing players’ health, and dozens of guys are getting playing time. That will pay dividends later. However, I don’t have much faith in everything improving as the season progresses. How do the penalties get better? How does Texas improve from a 26% start on third downs? Where does a running game come from? I don’t know the answers. Hopefully, he does.

Schadenfreude of the Week: Michigan didn’t deliver for Texas fans in Norman. But the Longhorns’ steer cousin USF took down the No. 13 Gators in the Swamp. Florida has LSU and Miami before hosting Texas in Gainesville on October 4.

Also – how about some schadenfreude directed at myself? The guy who wrote a children’s book about the Texas Longhorns so that families could bond over the team together. I watched Texas’ 28 point barrage on a TV outside of my section in DKR, because the below picture was my two year old during that time.

This Piping Hot Take Burned the Roof of My Mouth: Parker Livingstone will break Jordan Shipley’s single-season receiving touchdown record of 13.

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Hype Train Level: choo, choo.

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