Texas football walked back into Austin with more questions than answers after the Red River Rivalry, and the message out of the program this week is simple: move on fast.
For the first time since 2023, the Longhorns returned from the Cotton Bowl with a loss and no Golden Hat, a rough ending to a game that exposed the same issues that have followed them all season. The ride back down Interstate 35 likely gave everyone plenty of time to sit with it, but senior offensive lineman Trevor Goosby made it clear the team can’t afford to stay stuck there.
“You can’t let one team beat you in two weeks,” he said.
That’s the challenge now for Texas as it shifts its focus toward the next game and tries to keep the frustration from bleeding into another week. The bigger issue, though, is not about effort or ability. It’s about the Longhorns not putting it together consistently, especially on offense.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian knows it.
“I think you can go through ebbs and flows of rhythm and scheme and tie it all together,” Sarkisian said. “Clearly, we’ve been just a little bit off. I think we’re close, and that’s the encouraging part.”
As the play caller, Sarkisian has taken ownership of the offense’s problems, and he’s also pointed out that every team runs into stretches where things go quiet. The job, in his view, is getting through that stretch without letting it snowball.
“There’s always moments throughout a year where you maybe have lulls, and our job is to work our way through that lull,” he said. “We’re always getting held to the standard of what we can be, and that’s our job to work through this.”
That standard is exactly why the frustration around Texas feels so loud right now. The talent is there.
The flashes are there, too. Even in Saturday’s game, the Longhorns found some pop through the air, with junior wide receivers Ryan Wingo and Cam Coleman each catching first-half touchdowns and freshman wide receiver Jermaine Bishop Jr. adding his first career touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Texas also has to find a better way to use freshman running back Derrek Cooper. He carried the ball eight times for 41 yards in the first half on Saturday, but he touched it only twice after halftime. Sarkisian said the reduced role was tied to the way the game unfolded, though Cooper still looks like a player who could be more involved going forward.
That’s the tension with this team: the pieces are there, but the full picture hasn’t come into focus. The Longhorns have enough individual talent to make plays. They just haven’t yet found the consistency to stack them.
Monday brought a new week, but not a clean slate in the way Texas probably wants. The work now is figuring out how to make that talent show up more often, and Sarkisian put the responsibility squarely on himself.
“I think I can always do better,” Sarkisian said. “I always look at myself first. My job is to put our players in the best position to be successful, and if we’re not hitting on all cylinders, if we’re having three and outs, if we’re turning the ball over, clearly I have to look at what we’re doing.”
In Other News...
Florida Just Got A Needed Recruiting Boost After That Ugly Loss
Floridas Week 6 loss to South Carolina stung on the field, but the Gators needed something positive quickly and got it on the recruiting trail. Five-star wide receiver Easton Royal, the No. 1 receiver in the 2027 class, flipped his commitment from Texas to Florida shortly after the defeat, giving the program a jolt at a time when the margin for good news felt pretty thin.
Royals decision matters beyond the headline because he is one of the most coveted prospects in the country and is expected to wrap up his recruitment soon. For Texas, it is a notable miss in a class that had been building momentum, while Florida gets a major boost as it tries to steady itself after slipping to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in the SEC. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Has A Discipline Problem Sarkisian Can't Ignore
The loss to Oklahoma brought Texas back to a familiar and frustrating theme: the Longhorns again hurt themselves with flags at the worst possible moments. They were penalized eight times for 61 yards, and the numbers fit the broader concern Steve Sarkisian has been trying to push to the front of the conversation. Even with a modest dip in penalties per game from last season, the Longhorns have not shaken the kind of mistakes that can swing a tight rivalry game.
Sarkisian has already pointed to penalties as the biggest issue the staff has to clean up, and he described the problem as a mix of effort-based plays and mental miscues. That makes the fix harder than simply preaching discipline in practice, because the issue is not coming from one place or one player group. Texas can outplay an opponent in stretches and still leave the door open if it keeps layering avoidable mistakes on top of itself. [Read more 🡒]
Jayda Clark Could Be Key To Texas Finding Its New Identity
Vic Schaefer is using preseason practices to set a clear tone for Texas womens basketball: defense first, then physicality and rebounding, with a roster that features eight newcomers still learning how to mesh. The Longhorns are trying to build a tougher identity for the new season, and that means every drill is about habits as much as talent, especially with so much new blood in the mix.
One player drawing attention in that process is sophomore guard Jayda Clark, whose athleticism and defensive upside have stood out as Schaefer works to fold her into the system. For Texas, the challenge is bigger than simply adding pieces. It is about finding the right combination of toughness and discipline to make the group look like one team, and Clark could become an important part of how quickly that happens. [Read more 🡒]