Texas’s offense doesn’t need a complete identity overhaul so much as a hard reset on how it’s being used.
After the loss to Oklahoma, the Longhorns are dealing with the same questions that started popping up after the UTSA game and then lingered through the Tennessee win. The warning signs were there. The issues just became impossible to ignore in the Cotton Bowl, where a pricey offense once again fell short of the standard Steve Sarkisian expects.
One answer is to keep leaning into 10 personnel until it proves it can’t hold up. That alignment has been a big talking point since the Oklahoma loss, and Sarkisian didn’t back away from the idea when he met with the media on Thursday.
"Really good defensive coordinators like the one we the ones we play against, if they know that's all you're going to do, I promise you, we're going to get schemed up," Sarkisian said. "And so, you have to be able to to change gears, switch gears, do different things, or we can stand back there, five and six-man protection, and guys are going to be running free in Arch's face. So we've got to continually change those things."
"Don't get me wrong, our 10 personnel is really good to us, and it's grown as the season's gone on, and it's been effective. But you have layers to that.
Your run game can get limited. Your pass protection can get limited.
So you have to have other things to offset that if people are trying to attack that aspect of your game."
That idea ties directly into how Texas handles its tight ends and wideouts. Outside of a few big moments from Emaree Winston late against Ohio State, the tight ends haven’t given the offense much.
With Jermaine Bishop Jr., Cam Coleman, Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley V on the field together, Texas can force defenses to deal with more speed and more receiving talent. The tradeoff is obvious: less help in protection for Arch Manning.
Cam Coleman is another place where Texas needs to rethink the script. He has flashed on a few deep balls, but the Longhorns haven’t gotten steady enough production from him to keep using him only as a vertical threat. He’s also had his share of rough moments on those routes, including the phantom drop-turned-interception against Ohio State and a near-perfect pass from Manning that went through his hands against Oklahoma.
The better move is to get him involved early on slants and other short routes against man coverage, the kind of throws that let his frame and catch radius work against defensive backs. Texas needs him functioning like the No. 1 target it expected when it brought him in on a multi-millionare contract.
That would help Coleman settle in, and it could help Manning find his rhythm sooner, too. Once the offense starts stringing together clean gains in the short and intermediate game, the deep shots can come back into play.
The freshman class also showed enough against Oklahoma to suggest Texas should trust it more. Fans have heard all offseason about Jermaine Bishop Jr. and Derrek Cooper, and both made their presence felt at the Cotton Bowl.
Cooper led the Longhorns in production out of the backfield, finishing with eight carries for 41 yards. Some will view him as the team’s second-best running back behind Hollywood Smothers, but he’ll need to keep stacking performances like that to back it up.
There’s also a case for getting more out of the backs in the passing game. Hollywood Smothers, Raleek Brown and Derrek Cooper should be used on screen passes, not just on throws behind the line of scrimmage and outside the numbers that haven’t worked. A steadier run game still matters most, but finding easier touches for those backs could help open the offense and keep Manning from holding the ball too long.
Texas has already seen Sarkisian make that part of the offense work before, with players like Jaydon Blue and Quintrevion Wisner a few years back. The Longhorns don’t need magic. They need cleaner answers, quicker throws and a better way to get their best athletes involved before the season slips any further.
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Sarkisian's Latest Officiating Frustration Will Fire Up Texas Fans
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Phillips has been flagged for pass interference three times this season, and senior cornerback Bo Mascoe has drawn two more, which only adds to the sense around the program that the balance of those calls has not gone Texas way. Sarkisian also pointed to the broader issue of the Longhorns not getting similar breaks in their favor, a grievance that is likely to resonate with a fan base already looking for reasons to feel the officiating has been working against them. [Read more 🡒]
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The bigger issue for Texas is that the question is no longer just about one decision, but about how much of the offense Sarkisian wants to continue steering himself. He pushed back on the idea of giving up play-calling duties, even as his calls in key moments drew scrutiny, and that leaves the Longhorns with a familiar tension: a coach prized for his offensive mind now facing pressure over whether that same approach is helping or hurting the team when the game is on the line. [Read more 🡒]