Danny Kanell didn’t sugarcoat what he saw Saturday, and Texas gave him plenty to work with.
The Longhorns dropped their second straight game, falling at home to Florida, 27-24, and Kanell unloaded afterward on CBS, calling the result “as embarrassing as it gets” for Steve Sarkisian’s program.
“They went out and got the pieces that Arch Manning needed,” Kanell said on CBS postgame. “They went and got Cam Coleman and got two running backs.
This is supposed to be a roster that can compete for a national championship, and you just lost at home to a team that got blown out by South Carolina, and oh, by the way, the Florida Gators did it with a backup quarterback. This is as embarrassing as it gets for Sark and Texas.”
Texas never found much rhythm offensively. Arch Manning completed 14 of 20 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown, but he spent most of the afternoon under pressure. He was sacked five times and had little room to operate.
The ground game wasn’t much help either. Texas finished with 30 carries for 99 yards, a total that underscored how difficult it was for the Longhorns to control the game.
Sarkisian has stuck with play-calling duties in the past, but the situation now demands a response. Texas still has a path to the College Football Playoff, though the cushion is gone.
Next up is a home date with Ole Miss, and that one suddenly looms a lot larger with one of the nation’s best quarterbacks coming to Austin.
In Other News...
Tramell Jones Jr. Just Gave Florida A Reason To Believe
A freshman making his first career start is rarely asked to steady a program against a top-10 opponent, but Tramell Jones Jr. walked into that kind of assignment and gave Florida exactly the kind of calm it needed. The Gators rallied from a 17-3 deficit to beat seventh-ranked Texas 27-24, and Jones played a central role in getting them back into it, completing 22 of 35 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
For Florida, the win was about more than surviving an early hole. It was about seeing a young quarterback handle pressure, keep the offense moving and give the Gators a chance when the game tightened late. The defense finished the job with a late fumble by Texas quarterback Arch Manning, but the bigger takeaway in Gainesville is hard to miss: there is at least a reason to believe Florida has found something it can build on. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Suddenly Has A Bigger Opportunity Than Anyone Expected
Floridas win over Texas came at exactly the right time, giving Billy Napiers team a needed jolt after a season that has already swung from a 4-0 start to back-to-back losses. The bigger picture around college football has been just as unpredictable, with results across several conferences reshuffling expectations almost every week, and Florida has managed to keep itself in the conversation despite the early turbulence.
With the bye week now in hand, the Gators are in a better spot than many projected before the season, both in the SEC race and in the overall record chase. The Texas victory did more than settle things down for a day, too, because it left Floridas preseason goals still within reach as the schedule moves into its next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Turned The Big 12 Race Into Something Much Bigger
A wild Saturday across college football sent shockwaves through the AP poll, and BYU was one of the biggest beneficiaries after upsetting Notre Dame to climb to No. 2. The chaos was unprecedented, with five of the top seven teams losing on the same day for the first time in AP history, and Miami surged to No. 1 after its double-overtime win against Florida State.
For Florida fans, the broader picture is just as striking because the Gators were part of a day that helped redraw the national conversation in a hurry. Ohio State held off Indiana, Tennessee beat Alabama, Florida knocked off Texas, and Auburn beat Georgia, turning what could have been a routine Saturday into a rankings reset that left the Big 12 race and the rest of the playoff picture looking far more volatile than before. [Read more 🡒]