Florida walked into Austin with momentum problems of its own and walked out with a result that made Texas look a lot more vulnerable than anyone would have expected a couple weeks ago.
The Longhorns’ 27-24 loss to the Gators pushed a rough stretch into full-blown trouble. Texas is now 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the SEC, a sharp drop from the No. 1 spot it held just two weeks ago when it was sitting at 4-0.
Florida, meanwhile, had arrived after back-to-back losses to then No. 25 Missouri and unranked South Carolina.
Texas opened well enough, but that early edge didn’t last. Florida answered with 24 straight points and turned the game into a showcase of the Longhorns’ offensive problems. What had already been a concern through the first three games against Power 4 opponents became the defining issue of the night.
Those warning signs were already there before Florida showed up. Against Ohio State, Texas needed four quarters to get going.
Outside of two drives, the offense was bottled up in that win. The problems became more obvious in the loss to Oklahoma, where the Red River rivalry defeat marked the point when the offense stopped being a background concern and started becoming the biggest story around Steve Sarkisian’s team.
From there, the questions kept stacking up: the Longhorns had trouble moving the ball consistently, the play-calling came under fire, and Arch Manning’s play worsened. Florida put all of that under a brighter spotlight.
Texas finished with only three scoring drives on offense. Two came on the first two possessions, and the third didn’t arrive until four minutes remained in the fourth quarter.
The yardage told the same story. The Longhorns managed just 272 total yards, with 173 through the air and 99 on the ground.
Manning had another difficult outing, and his struggles were impossible to ignore. He repeatedly missed throws or made decisions that stalled Texas drives and hurt the offense when it needed a spark.
Afterward, Sarkisian made clear that nothing on that side of the ball is off limits when it comes to review.
“I just felt like we didn’t play good offensive football and we’re not playing great offensive football right now, so everything is going to be evaluated,” Sarkisian said.
The problems were there before Florida arrived. The Gators just made them impossible to miss. For Texas, fixing the offense is now the top priority.
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