I like when this team proves me wrong. I was not at all confident that the No. 7 Texas Longhorns would be able to go on the road in Columbia in an early game and get it done against this No. 18 Missouri Tigers squad. They even shook off some early shenanigans that led to to them spotting Missouri a lead. They needed a win like this not only for the resume, but they needed it as a nice confidence builder before heading into their toughest game left on the schedule
next week in Baton Rouge.
I commend this team for getting it done. Their playoff hopes are still alive and well and they can still get into the postseason. There are still three weeks remaining, but their odds of making the College Football Playoff got a healthy bump after Saturday’s win on the road.
Lets jump right on into it.
Arch Manning played his best game of the year
We got the good Arch Manning on Saturday in Columbia. This may have been the best we’ve seen of Arch in the past two seasons under center. He had a couple of ugly throws mixed in, but he was pretty dialed in against Missouri and looked poised and in control.
The pocket movement was good, the processing was good, he took check downs when he needed to, and he was a proper bus driver for the offense all game long. It felt like Steve Sarkisian and Arch were on the same page and in sync after weeks of sputtering and frustration.
Manning’s feet were not a factor in this game, but it didn’t matter because he went 28-of-38 passing for 297 yards and three touchdowns to zero interceptions. That’ll play, young fella. Like many others, I have been harsh on Arch considering how much football he has played in college to this point, but you won’t find me being harsh about this performance. This was an A-grade performance from 16 and this is the type of performance you can win a lot of games with.
Speaking of Sark and Arch being on the same page. Is the Texas screen game finally back?
Where has this screen game been all year when defenses have been sending relentless pressure on Manning? Showing and executing plays like this gives opposing coordinators pause on pressures because now you can counter it with this. Hopefully we see more of this moving into next week.
It was a complete ref show in Columbia
What the ever loving f*** was going on with the refs in Columbia on Saturday? The crew assigned to the Texas/Mizzou game was the primary topic of conversation on Saturday, and it should never be that way. Missouri fans feel like Texas caught all of the breaks on Saturday (and to be fair Texas did benefit), but the calls from this crew cut both ways throughout the game.
I still don’t know what to make of this play, but the call on field being a fumble already put you in a tight spot. The ball was definitely coming loose as his arm was coming forward, but was the arm already coming forward before that started? If that’s the case it should be incomplete. Regardless, the most important part of this play is the clear and obvious recovery. HUGE kudos to the Texas players who were smart enough to go get on the football and possess it because that ends up being massive.
Speaking of fumbles or non-fumbles:
How in the hell was this not a fumble and a clear fumble recovery for Texas? 1. Forward progress clearly wasn’t stopped. Cayden Lee is still fighting and going forward and damn near got to the sticks. 2. The whistles haven’t sounded. 3. The ball is clearly ripped out and not until then do we suddenly get a whistle despite the forward progress of the play not being stopped.
This was infuriating to watch in real time because nothing the crew said on the field added up at all. How can you say foward progress was stopped when they were clearly content to let the play continue to play out right up until Texas was able to rip the ball free? The Manning fumble is getting discussed a lot, but this one needs to be discussed just as much, as it could have been a big point swing for Mizzou.
Then there was this play. Hell, I thought it was a catch in real-time and on review. At least I didn’t think there was nearly enough to say that it wasn’t. And they overturned it. I don’t know, man. I felt like Mizzou fans had a legit beef on this one.
Speaking of Cayden Lee, that dude is really good. He got a ton of targets and was an incredibly tough cover for Texas defensive backs. Good player, that guy.
Sark needs to feed Raleek Brown
This was Brown’s biggest play of the day. An absolute tear drop from Manning on the wheel route for six. But when I am talking about feeding him, I mean in the run game.
Brown ended the day with 85 yards on 17 carries , which was good for five yards a pop, but in the first half he had 44 yards on only five carries, 8.8 ypc. Brown was toting it and Texas was getting good push in the run game. I was confused that Sark didn’t go to Brown more considering that Texas has struggled to run the football this year and he was creasing the Mizzou defense.
If Brown can be a bell-cow back with Smothers out for the year, this allows Texas to have some balance offensively, which will raise the floor of the offense as a whole. Him also being a plus as a receiver raises the ceiling of the offense as well.
The defense shut the door on Mizzou
The Texas defense didn’t have a ton of splash plays in this game, but they certainly did enough to keep it in the game and they also had to deal with some short fields due to turnovers and Texas’ special teams. Mizzou went after Warren Roberson a lot on Saturday, so seeing him force the game-winning turnover to seal the game was awesome.
We saw Colin Simmons return to the field for the Texas defense on Saturday, but clearly he wasn’t 100 percent just yet. Even at whatever percentage he was at he still found a way to be effective and he was clearly held by Mizzou left tackle Cayden Green on a play and it wasn’t called by the officials.
Ironically, it was the same play on the Lee catch that ended up getting overturned on review. It was good to see Simmons back out there. Texas will need whatever he can add next week in Baton Rouge.
Speaking of stud Texas defenders, Rasheem Biles is such a dawg.
On one play he is on the blitz, gets pressure, and gets a hand on the pass from Simmons. On the very next play he is carrying Mizzou’s best receiver down the field in coverage and breaks up the pass. That’s NFL shit, man. I’ve said it multiple times, but Biles is worth whatever they paid him to get him away from Pitt.
Austin Simmons was getting the ball out of his hands quick on Saturday, and is a pretty good quarterback. He certainly made some nice throws on Saturday, but the defense eventually made him less efficient as the game wore on. Simmons ended up 23-of-43 passing (53-percent completion rate) for 252 yards and two touchdowns, while their leading rusher Jamal Roberts was held to 66 yards on the ground on 16 carries.
When you remove the Montgomery touchdown catch and run, the Texas defense did a pretty good job of making the Mizzou offense have to earn everything they got. The Tigers a nice offensive nucleus with Simmons/Roberts/Lee and the defense didn’t let them get busy like they certainly are capable.
A little coming out party for Jermaine Bishop Jr.
With Cam Coleman out of the starting lineup, that meant a bigger role for true freshman wide receiver Jermaine Bishop Jr. The speedster has shown some flashes throughout the year, but on Saturday he was Texas’ second leading receiver, and that included the game-tying touchdown grab in the latter part of the third quarter.
I’ll also take good decision making like this on down field blocks to help spring your back for touchdowns. Nice job, young fella.
It felt like a matter of time when we would eventually see the former five-star receiver start to make an impact. Certainly feels like he is earning the trust of the staff and has earned more snaps and a more expanded role within the offense as the season winds down.
Good, strong win and another notch on the resume for the postseason case for the committee. The Longhorns move to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in SEC-play. Big one on deck in Baton Rouge next week and it has been announced it will be a night game in Death Valley.
It will be a must-win for both teams, but the Tigers will be in desperation mode after getting thumped by the Tideon Saturday.
Get home and get the corrections in the barn. Get some of the guys healthy and ready to go for next week. The 24-hour rule is officially in effect. It’s on to the Swamp Jungle Cats.
