Texas took their first loss of the season Saturday, losing on a walk-off FG to Oklahoma. The offensive inconsistencies continued, as did penalties and special teams woes. It’s a game Texas fans would just as readily remove from their memory but there are valuable lessons to be taken away.
Here are the five things I believe we learned about Texas in yesterday’s loss:
Offensive shortcomings are everyone’s fault
Everyone wants a clean answer at the end of this game. They’d like to be able to bench the QB or change the playcaller and everything be fixed overnight. That’s not what Texas is staring down right now. Steve Sarkisian is not playcalling at the level he needs to. Arch Manning is making massive mistakes far too often. The run game isn’t giving either of those two enough to create true
openings in the secondary. Everyone owns some blame for Texas’ offensive shortcomings. There are fixes but it’s not as clean as many Longhorn fans might like it to be. We will see if Sarkisian can adapt his offense like he did last year to maximize this group but right now, no one is losing up their end of the bargain.
Cam Coleman will get more 1-on-1 chance this season
This was one of the major positives coming out of this game. Cam Coleman had his best day in a Longhorn uniform, particularly in 50/50 ball situations. I’d imagine there will be more “we have Cam Coleman and you don’t” plays going forward. The TD, explosive on the last TD drive and PI on the drive to set up the FG are all examples of the good that can happen just throwing it No. 8’s direction.
Arch Manning’s inconsistencies need to be less volatile
Last season, Arch Manning lacked the consistency needed to be an elite QB. That hasn’t changed as much as hoped this season. In fact, this season the inconsistencies are worse, because the fluctuations are more volatile. Before the 4th quarter, that was one of Arch Manning’s stronger performances as a starter. He made multiple great throws and decisions on the two TDs, used his legs effectively and was accurate with the football. Then, the dip came and it included two INTs that ended up being the nail in the coffin for Texas. Texas is able to be successful with some inconsistency but those low moments can be so low.
Special Teams (if not fixed) will continue to lose games
Arch Manning and Steve Sarkisian, like every QB and head coach, will wear this loss. That being said, a blocked punt, kick out of bounds and a missed FG did them little favors. The last two weeks, Jeff Banks’ special teams unit has given up as many TDs as Will Muschamp’s defense. Any successful team has, at worst, a net neutral special teams unit. Texas has one that is actively hurting them each and every week. If Jeff Banks’ doesn’t get the issues, particularly with the punt coverage unit, fixed this team will lose another one(maybe two) games this season because of special teams miscues.
Everything is still in front of Texas
This is a very frustrating loss for Texas. They did everything Oklahoma needed them to do for the Sooners to win. That being said, Texas lost to Florida out of the bye last season, then proceeded to go 7-1 the rest of the way. Sarkisian made the needed changes on offense, Manning got into more of a groove and they finished a broken season very strong. This team can still do that. Now, you’ll need to navigate Florida, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and LSU to do it, but they are capable of that. Frustration is normal after a loss like this but there isn’t a goal that was taken off the table for Texas yesterday. They have plenty to fix but also, have the luxury of getting to fix them while still having the CFP in their sights.
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This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: What’d we learn about Texas Longhorns in Red River loss to Oklahoma?
