Remember when Texas was the preseason No. 1 team? There’s no sign that team exists
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GAINESVILLE — If you were dropped from outer space into The Swamp on Saturday, you could’ve been fooled.
A person without previous knowledge of the 2 football teams who played at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium could’ve watched all 60 minutes and been delivered the stunner of all stunners at day’s end.
The home team? Yeah, it was 1-3 entering Saturday. In fact, the last time they were on that field, they were on the wrong end of a loss to an in-state directional school.
The visiting team? Yeah, it was the preseason No. 1 just 5 weeks ago. In fact, it was the first time in program history that the visiting team was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press preseason Top 25.
If you had been the person from outer space, you would’ve asked no shortage of follow-up questions. Like, why did the preseason No. 1 team not get a single sack against a quarterback playing on 1 leg? Also, why did the preseason No. 1 team have its running backs carry the ball 9 times for 11 yards? And wait, why did the preseason No. 1 team have 10 penalties with 6 sacks allowed to its mobile quarterback?
All of those would’ve been fair questions, especially coming from an outer space resident.
As for those of us who watched the Texas rise under Steve Sarkisian, there was another fair question to ask.
How in the world is Texas this lost?
Before you skewer preseason rankings and explain why they lack significance, remember that Texas was the only team in America who reached each of the last 2 semifinals. It wasn’t just Arch Manning’s expected ascension, and much of that ranking was based on a loaded returning defense. Also remember that being a preseason No. 1 in the AP Poll has been a more dubious title than some realize, which we’ve seen by 19 of the last 20 preseason No. 1 teams failing to win a national title.
Time will tell if Texas joins that statistic. Lord knows the Longhorns aren’t exactly giving “ready to break the mold” energy. A performance like that felt alarming, even in admittedly hostile atmosphere.
(Texas receiver Ryan Wingo said afterward that “I ain’t gonna lie. It got a little loud.”)
The thing is, Texas had already played in a jacked-up road venue. Against Ohio State, the Longhorns allowed just 3.8 yards/play. That’s why you couldn’t poke holes in the notion that while those 3 post-Ohio State matchups were favorable, Texas still led the nation with 3.6 yards/play allowed entering Week 6.
Florida, as even the outer space person could see, wildly surpassed that to the tune of 7 yards per play. Have I mentioned yet that it was with a quarterback who essentially had 1 good leg who had completed 1 pass 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage all year? And to be clear, DJ Lagway was limping in the 1st quarter after he spent the first part of the bye week in a walking boot. Yet Texas and its nonexistent pass rush let Lagway throw for 298 yards, 111 of which went to Dallas Wilson, AKA the first Florida true freshman to ever catch a receiving touchdown in his first-career game.
Did Wilson possibly get away with a push-off on the 55-yard touchdown grab that all but put the game away late in the 3rd quarter? Sarkisian seemed to think so, but as he said, that’s the type of play that you can get away with if you’re a big, physical receiver.
Texas didn’t catch any breaks, nor did it help itself in virtually any facet. Shoot, the Longhorns couldn’t even do anything right on special teams. A blocked punt and a pair of failures to down a punt at the goal line felt fitting for the day that was in Gainesville.
Saturday felt different than the opener, and not just because it was loss No. 2. Against Ohio State, Texas could walk away from a 14-7 loss knowing that Manning struggled in his first career road start, which happened to be against the defending national champs. Against Florida, Manning followed a similar script of not really figuring some things out until it was too late, but overall, it felt more like disappointment across the board. Mind you, that was coming off a bye week.
Troubling.
Sarkisian isn’t panicking, though. Not about Manning. Not about his preseason No. 1 team.
“I thought he competed his heart out. Our entire team did. Most people probably thought we were dead and gone,” Sarkisian said. “We fought all the way back. We had a chance there at the end.”
He doubled down when asked about whether Texas has to reshape goals for this season.
“Not at all. We’re a 1-loss team in the SEC,” Sarkisian said. “There’s a lot of football left to be played. We’ve got 7 conference games to be played. I’m not gonna sit here and give us the ‘poor me’ and the ‘woe is us.’ We’ll get ready to go.”
Maybe Sarkisian is right and his team will indeed show up “ready to go” in a rivalry showdown vs. No. 5 Oklahoma next week. One would’ve thought the sense of urgency would’ve been there at the start of SEC play against a Florida team that was on life support.
Now, it’s Texas who has national championship hopes that are on life support
Texas safety and preseason All-American Michael Taaffe referenced how he had never seen a national championship team lack in-season adversity. Even when he began to speak about 2019 LSU as the potential lone exception, he reminded himself that Texas gave the Joe Burrow-led Tigers everything they could handle in September. The difference between those teams is 2-fold. For starters, 2019 LSU survived that Texas game and didn’t deal with adversity in the form of a loss. The other obvious difference is that this Texas team has the luxury of playing in the 12-team Playoff era, wherein simply reaching the SEC Championship Game means you’ll have a shot to make the field.
But whether Taaffe or Sarkisian want to admit it, an 0-2 mark vs. the lone Power Conference teams on the schedule through Week 6 wasn’t what anyone drew up. A 9-3 at-large team didn’t make the first 12-team Playoff, and for a 3-2 team with 4 AP Top 25 teams remaining, even getting 9-3 could be an uphill climb. At this point, that would feel like a massive win with the struggles shown by Manning behind a clearly inexperienced (and overwhelmed) offensive line.
Texas running back Tre Wisner briefly addressed the media in the bowels of The Swamp, and he did so with a black T-shirt that read in all caps “THE WAR IS HERE.” It’s safe to say Texas will be living those words the rest of the regular season. Wisner was asked about the postgame message that Sarkisian delivered to the locker room.
“Just stay connected and know who you are,” Wisner said.
Who is Texas, though? Those of us on earth are wondering.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
