Texas got out of Knoxville with a win, but the line of scrimmage told a much different story.
The Longhorns beat Tennessee 20-17 and kept their unbeaten record intact, yet Arch Manning spent most of the afternoon under siege. Tennessee got to him six times, and Texas never found much traction on the ground, finishing with just 1.7 yards per carry. For Steve Sarkisian, that made the postgame conversation pretty simple.
"Clearly, it wasn't good enough Saturday, right?" Sarkisian said. "It's a combination of things."
That combination is exactly what has Texas uneasy. Sarkisian said the breakdowns came from multiple places - some tied to Manning, some to the center, and some to other blockers not doing what they were supposed to do. However it’s divided up, the result was the same: pressure on the quarterback, hurried decisions and an offense stuck in long-yardage situations.
It’s not a new issue for Texas, either. Offensive line play was already one of the team’s biggest headaches in 2025, with Manning regularly under pressure, the run game struggling to get going and penalties knocking the offense off schedule.
The Longhorns tried to fix that over the offseason by bringing in Western Kentucky transfer Laurence Seymore and Wake Forest transfer Melvin Siani. They also brought back Trevor Goosby, who is viewed as one of college football’s top offensive tackle prospects and a possible first-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
But the improvement hasn’t been steady. Against Tennessee, even Raleek Brown’s two touchdowns couldn’t hide the issues in front of him. Brown still had trouble finding room, and Tennessee’s pressure packages kept creating problems in pass protection.
"Some of them are the quarterback. Some of them the center.
Some of it is the other guys executing what they're told to do," Sarkisian said. "Clearly, it wasn't good enough Saturday."
Texas is still unbeaten, but that doesn’t make the concern any smaller. If the Longhorns can’t keep Manning clean and open lanes in the run game, the offensive line is going to remain a major question as the SEC schedule gets tougher.
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