GAINESVILLE — The final play from scrimmage summed up an entire Saturday’s worth of frustration for Texas, who was outplayed and out-coached in a 29-21 loss on Saturday to Florida.
The Florida Gators entered the game without a win against FBS competition, wondering if it would be the final chapter in the star-crossed, subpar tenure of head coach Billy Napier.
The Longhorns arrived still ranked in the top 10, presumably prepared to make a statement after a narrow Week 1 loss at Ohio State knocked the Longhorns from their perch as the preseason No. 1 team in America.
As a rainy Saturday afternoon bled into a picture perfect Saturday evening in Gainesville, any remnants of that number 1 team appeared lost in Florida’s Swamp.
For a month, the narrative around Texas was that the Horns would fire on all cylinders as soon as celebrated recruit and first-year starter turned preseason Heisman candidate Arch Manning adjusted to big-time college football.
Sure, Week 1 at The Shoe was a disaster, with Manning posting a 17-30, 170 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 38 yards rushing stat line that in truth is flattering to his performance in a 14-7 defeat. But strength of competition aside, Manning showed signs of improvement in the 3-game cupcake-fest leading up to Texas’s SEC opener at Florida, and while the Gators have a stout defense, a coming out party against a 1-3 Florida team was certainly possible, if not universally predicted.
It didn’t happen, but Manning was hardly poor against Florida.
The sophomore threw for 263 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Gators, and he consistently kept plays alive with his legs and rushing ability. A third quarter touchdown strike to Ryan Wingo was a perfect example of both Manning’s arm talent and his presence and skill in keeping his eyes elevated in the face of a furious pass rush. It was, without question, the best throw of his young collegiate career, given the road environment, quality of defense, and situation.
Manning wasn’t perfect, or even “really good” against the Gators, who were playing without their 2 best defenders in defensive tackle Caleb Banks and do-everything nickel Aaron Gates. Arch missed multiple open receivers, especially in the first half, and appeared slow in reading progressions, especially against Florida’s various simulated pressures. But 300 yards of total offense from your sophomore quarterback ought to be good enough to win in the SEC, at least when you are as good as Texas was supposed to be around him.
It wasn’t on Saturday, and that’s the Texas-sized problem facing Steve Sarkisian as the Horns head to the State Fair for next Saturday’s Red River Rivalry showdown with Oklahoma.
The issue with Texas is that there are a host of issues bigger than Arch Manning.
First and foremost, the Longhorns can’t block a soul.
Florida entered Saturday’s Swamp showdown ranked last in the Power 4 in quarterback pressure and sack rate.
The Gators generated 35 pressures of Manning on Saturday, along with a preposterous 22 quarterback hurries. Florida registered 6 sacks. Those numbers doubled what Texas had allowed all season entering the game, but did not appear to be a “one-off” for an inexperienced offensive line playing in one of college football’s most electric environments.
More concerning, Florida harassed and harangued Manning all night with just a 4-man rush on 85% of the contested snaps in the football game. Florida rarely blitzed and still managed to produce consistent pressure.
One way to alleviate pressure is to run the football, but Texas was horrific in that area on Saturday, posting just 52 yards rushing and getting a woeful 1.1 yards per carry from its running backs.
“We couldn’t run it tonight when they didn’t know we were gonna run it, (let alone) when they knew we were gonna run it,” Sarkisian said. “So we’ve gotta improve that. We cannot be a one-dimensional team. When guys can just start rushing the passer and not worry about the run, the game gets really difficult.”
It’s going to be hard for any quarterback, even one as talented as Manning, to win when defenses don’t respect the run.
Sarkisian is right, but his scheme, rightly lauded as one of the best in the sport, hasn’t helped Manning enough.
Arch’s bloodlines suggest he’s a pocket passer. The reality is he’s a dual-threat who is fast and elusive on his feet. Manning’s best moments through 5 games consistently occur when he’s on the move or Sarkisian relocates the pocket to give his quarterback the freedom to run. Given the fact Sarkisian’s offensive line can’t consistently get a push in the run game or hold protections in the passing game, Sarkisian will need to adjust schematically to compensate for these weaknesses.
The Texas defense, marvelous over the first 4 games of the season, showed frailties Saturday as well.
Yes, Florida has its own 5-star super talent at quarterback in DJ Lagway and a veteran offensive line led by 2 preseason All-Americans.
But the Gators hadn’t played like a talented offense all season, and entered the game ranked 131st of 136 teams in offensive success rate. Texas, who arrived in The Swamp ranked 4th in defensive success rate and third in yards allowed per play, figured to be a huge beneficiary of this mismatch.
It wasn’t.
The Gators pushed the Horns around up front, led by 107 yards rushing from Jadan Baugh, and Lagway took advantage of the consistency of the run game to light the Horns up with 298 yards passing and 2 touchdowns, including a backbreaking 55-yard strike to Dallas Wilson late in the third quarter. On the afternoon, Florida gained 457 yards, converting 7-of-13 on third down and averaging 7 yards per play — the most given up by a Texas defense since its loss to Michael Penix Jr. and Washington in the 2023 Sugar Bowl and College Football Playoff semifinals.
Is it reasonable to expect Pete Kwiatkowski’s loaded defense to bounce back? Absolutely. But Florida exposed some questions, especially at cornerback, that you can bet other SEC offenses will probe in the weeks ahead.
As thousands of orange-clad Horns who traveled to Florida expecting a victory exited The Swamp in near shock on Saturday evening, Texas’s problems appeared much bigger than the Arch Manning questions that predominated the pregame chatter this week.
With Oklahoma looming, whether Texas can fix them quickly will define what’s left of a season that began with so much hype and promise.
Neil Blackmon covers SEC football and basketball for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
