Texas walked out of the Cotton Bowl with more than just a 27-24 loss to unranked Oklahoma. The Longhorns left Dallas with a fresh set of problems, and they need answers fast.
That much is clear heading into Week 7, when Texas meets Florida in a game that suddenly feels like a must-win for both teams. The Longhorns are 4-1 after the Red River Rivalry setback, while the Gators fell 38-19 to South Carolina on Saturday for their second loss of the season.
If Texas is going to steady itself, the first stop has to be special teams. That unit helped swing the game hard in Oklahoma’s favor, and Steve Sarkisian was asked after the loss whether he would look at re-evaluating Jeff Banks’ role.
The sequence was brutal. Mac Chiumento had a punt blocked in the second quarter by Oklahoma’s Danny Okoye, and Dakoda Fields scooped it up for a Sooners score.
Justin Cryer missed his blocking assignment on the play. Chiumento later shanked a 29-yard punt in the second half, and that set up Oklahoma’s only offensive touchdown of the day.
Then came the kick that might have saved Texas. Gianni Spetic missed a field goal with 2:00 left that would have pushed the Longhorns ahead by three. Instead, Oklahoma’s Tate Sandell drilled a 47-yarder as time expired to seal it.
Special teams didn’t commit any of Texas’ eight penalties, but two plays were enough to make the group a major part of the loss.
The offensive issues run deeper. Arch Manning’s day can be picked apart in a few different ways, but the same problems keep showing up: he still holds the ball too long, and too many of his throws are risky or off target.
The biggest headache for Texas, though, is third down. The Longhorns went just 3 of 14 against Oklahoma and were 3 of 12 against Tennessee two weekends earlier on Rocky Top. Outside of the fourth quarter against Ohio State, third down has been a problem whenever Texas has faced Power 4 competition.
That’s a troubling pattern for a team with championship hopes. The last team to win it all with an inefficient third-down offense was Ohio State in 2024, and Texas may have to lean on its defense in similar fashion if it wants to be playing deep into January. Still, it would be a lot easier if the offense simply kept drives alive.
There’s also growing frustration around the play-calling. Some in the Burnt Orange faithful think Sarkisian is carrying too much of that load himself. At the same time, Texas doesn’t have an obvious person to hand the sheet to.
Long term, the Longhorns may need a true offensive coordinator so Sarkisian can operate more like a CEO. He could take a lesson from Ryan Day, who is at his best when he isn’t so deeply involved in calling the offense.
Sarkisian was the architect of the Ohio State comeback a few weeks ago, but the Red River Rivalry collapse may have wiped away a lot of that goodwill. Texas now has four currently ranked teams waiting in its next five games, so there’s no much room for error if it wants to rebuild confidence quickly.
In Other News...
Texas Just Learned How Costly That Red River Loss Really Was
The Red River loss to Oklahoma did more than just knock Texas out of the win column. A 47-yard kick by Tate Sandell sealed the 27-24 defeat and ended the Longhorns four-week run at No. 1 in the AP Poll, a stretch that had given the program some early-season breathing room at the top.
The fallout was just as jarring as the finish. Texas dropped to No. 7 in the AP Poll and No. 6 in the Coaches Poll, and with several other top-25 teams also stumbling over the week, the rankings shuffled around the Longhorns in a way that makes the defeat look even costlier in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Arch Manning Is Now At Center Of Texas' Biggest Debate
Texas left the Red River Rivalry with the kind of loss that lingers, a late field goal handing Oklahoma the win and putting Arch Manning right in the middle of the conversation. Manning was sharp enough in the first half and showed comfort on throws inside the numbers, but the finish turned on a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions that helped swing the game and reopened questions about how the Longhorns are putting him in position to succeed.
For Texas, the larger issue is no longer just one bad stretch in one rivalry game. Mannings decision-making is under the microscope, but so is the play-calling around him, with the debate centering on whether the offense is asking too much at the wrong moments or not enough to keep him on the right track. As the Longhorns try to move past a painful loss, those questions are only going to get louder. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Needs Arch Manning To Answer One Big Question Fast
Both Florida and Texas took a hit in Week 6, and the AP Poll reflected it after losses that only sharpened the scrutiny on two teams still trying to prove they belong in the College Football Playoff conversation. For Texas, the focus keeps circling back to Arch Manning, whose season has already included flashes of the player the Longhorns believe he can become, along with uneven stretches that have made every snap feel more revealing than the last.
The recent loss to Oklahoma only raised the stakes, with Manning throwing two interceptions in a game that underscored how quickly the margin for error can disappear. Now the Longhorns head into a matchup with Florida facing a simple but urgent question: can Manning steady the offense fast enough to restore momentum, or will Texas keep leaving the door open in a race where every setback matters? [Read more 🡒]