AUSTIN, Texas - Ryan Wingo’s hands remain part of the conversation in Austin.
The Texas junior wide receiver spent the offseason trying to clean up the catching issues that led to seven drops in 2025, and there were early signs of progress in the season-opening win over Texas State. But against Ohio State, the old problem showed up again at a costly moment in the second quarter, when Wingo let a potential 30-yard touchdown slip through his hands.
The throw was there. Arch Manning did his part, resetting his feet and delivering an accurate ball on a design that had opened up exactly the way Texas wanted. Wingo didn’t finish the play, and the ball went right through his hands.
“We worked really hard with Ryan and a lot of our receivers of, when we catch the football, we catch the football in front of our eyes, and we don’t let the ball pass our eyes, and in that instance, the ball passed his eyes. That’s a much tougher catch to make,” Sarkisian said on Thursday.
Wingo had already acknowledged after the opener that the drops weighed on him.
“That wasn’t the reason that Sark recruited me,” Wingo said of his drops after the season opener. “It wasn’t the reason that C Jack [Chris Jackson] recruited me here. I felt like I was doing them a disservice.“
The missed touchdown was frustrating, but the play itself still offered a glimpse of why Steve Sarkisian’s offense keeps getting so much attention. Texas dialed up a version of the “ shallow sting ” concept that traces back to Lincoln Riley’s offense, then layered in Sarkisian’s own wrinkles to attack Ohio State’s defense.
The structure started with a post route from the boundary to clear out the deep safety and open space underneath. Wingo, working from a tight split to the field, ran the crossing route that was supposed to turn up the seam once he hit his landmark at the hash marks.
Sarkisian added play action and a two-back look to pull the linebackers forward and challenge the hole player in the inverted Tampa 2 used by Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, described here as his own version of the three-safety flyover defense popularized by Iowa State.
Raleek Brown’s motion across the formation, then back to the field in orbit motion, added another layer of deception. Brown was also available as a checkdown for Manning, while Hollywood Brown gave the quarterback a check release to help keep the pocket clean. Brandon Baker’s pull in the Power bluff helped account for any blitzers trying to disrupt the throw.
Some versions of the concept include the Y tight end working up the middle, but Sarkisian left Spencer Shannon in the backfield to block instead of turning him into a route threat. That fit Shannon’s strength and kept the play from becoming too slow to develop.
Even with the drop, the design itself showed why Sarkisian gets so much respect from other coaches. Roadrunners head coach Jeff Traylor said this week that Sarkisian is one of 25 coaches whose touchdowns he watches every week.
“I think all of us that coach offense - and I spend most of my time on the offensive side of the ball - we all have a little bit of Sark’s offense in our offense,” Traylor told Horns247. “We we all copy Sark.
I mean, Sark does a wonderful job of disguising his stuff, his play-action pass, his sell cuts, his post game, his RPO game, his screen game, his protections. Sark is on another level for play calling.”
In Other News...
Steve Sarkisians Two ESPN Interviews Have Texas Fans Saying The Same Thing
Steve Sarkisian left Columbus with a marquee win and, for Texas fans, a couple of television moments that were almost as memorable for how they unfolded as for what was said. During the Longhorns comeback against Ohio State, ESPN caught Sarkisian in two awkward sideline spots, first at halftime with Laura Rutledge and then again after the game with Holly Rowe, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how chaotic a big road win can feel in real time.
The halftime interview never really got going because of technical issues, and Rutledge later clarified what went wrong while noting Sarkisian handled the delay patiently. The postgame exchange took a different turn, ending abruptly when Sarkisian shouted and headed off to celebrate with his team, leaving Rowe with a visibly different reaction and plenty of attention on the contrast between the two interviews. [Read more 🡒]
Arch Manning Weighed In As Holly Rowe Faced A Heartbreaking Week
Holly Rowe had a painful week away from the football spotlight after announcing the death of her mother, Diane Buck Rowe-Gandre, and later sharing that the family held a private graveside service in her honor. Rowe described a tribute filled with personal touches, from released butterflies and purple colors to music and Dr. Pepper, offering a glimpse into how her family said goodbye while the college football world kept moving around her.
The timing only added to the unease around Texas after a viral AI-generated video depicted Steve Sarkisian slapping Rowe, coming on the heels of a real postgame moment when Sarkisian walked away from an interview with her. Arch Manning was asked about the controversy during a press conference and later apologized for his reaction, a reminder of how quickly an ugly online moment can spill into the wider conversation around the Longhorns. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Suddenly Has A Coaching Issue Hanging Over UTSA Week
A fresh off-field issue landed on Texas this week when co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach Johnny Nansen was arrested Wednesday evening on a misdemeanor DWI charge. Head coach Steve Sarkisian confirmed the arrest and said the program is still gathering information while monitoring the situation, an unwelcome development as the Longhorns turn their attention to UTSA.
Nansen was not at practice after the arrest, and his status for the upcoming game remains unsettled. For a defense already in game-week preparation mode, the uncertainty adds another layer to a week that was supposed to be focused on cleanup and rhythm, not staffing questions on the sideline. [Read more 🡒]