Why does Texas have 3 losses? The 3 biggest reasons for Longhorns’ struggles
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After receiving a good old-fashioned butt-kicking courtesy of defending SEC champion Georgia, Texas now has 3 losses on the season and is left searching for answers.
The Texas Longhorns must regroup this offseason after going from a squad which started off the 2025 season ranked No. 1 in most polls to finishing the season in extremely disappointing fashion by not making the College Football Playoff for the first time in 2 seasons. Despite beating 2 teams ranked in the top 10 when it played them, mustering up 4 consecutive wins in the SEC and watching Arch Manning constantly improve, Texas was never able to reach the level of consistency it has played at for the majority of the last 2 seasons.
Here are 3 reasons Texas now has 3 losses on its record heading into its 2 remaining rivalry games against Arkansas and Texas A&M.
1. Couldn’t overcome tough road environments
Thanks to having an 11-game road winning streak and not losing on the road in the regular season since October 2022, Texas entered this season confident it could master its road games despite its difficult road slate. Unlike in years past, Texas couldn’t run the ball or protect Arch Manning consistently enough to win difficult road games in some of the toughest environments in the nation.
With losses at the “The Horseshoe” in Columbus, “The Swamp” in Gainesville and “Between The Hedges” in Athens, the Longhorns played in 3 of the hardest venues in the nation to win at this season and lost at every one of them. According to EA Sports and its iconic College Football video game series, Ohio Stadium and Sanford Stadium are the third and fourth hardest places to visit while Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is the seventh.
Even in victory Texas struggled on the road, as it needed to go to overtime to beat lowly Kentucky and Mississippi State in consecutive games the Longhorns were double-digit favorites to win. A consistent huge problem for Texas was the fact its offensive line was a no-show in these big environment games.
In their 3 road losses, the Longhorns allowed 10 total sacks and ran the ball for 241 total yards while rushing for under 55 yards in losses to Florida and Georgia. When you have a young quarterback like Manning who thrives on the play-action fake game, a nonexistent running game, combined with weak offensive-line play in tough road environments, you have a recipe for disaster. That’s something Texas couldn’t run away from this season.
2. Got burned by the big play in losses
Another major common theme which doomed Texas on the road this season was the lack of consistency from its talented defense which, for whatever reason, didn’t travel well this season. In 4 SEC road games, Texas gave up 29.5 points per game and had only 1 game where it gave up 29 points or less.
Texas’s inability to consistently get off the field on third down or prevent explosive plays in the pass game has been a constant problem it couldn’t overcome all season. In all 3 losses, Texas had a disturbing trend of giving up a touchdown of 30+ yards.
Allowing big plays to consistently happen is not conducive for winning big games in the toughest environments in college football.
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3. Never learned to play from behind against elite teams
A characteristic most elite teams have is the ability to come from behind in some games where they trail.
For whatever reason this was a huge problem for the Longhorns this season especially on the road. Yes, the Longhorns came back to beat the aforementioned Kentucky and Mississippi State. But in all 3 of their losses, they couldn’t muster up any late heroics. If you plan on beating teams like Ohio State and Georgia in their buildings you must make them uncomfortable.
The fact Texas never scored first or took a lead in their road losses will be something coach Steve Sarkisian and company must evaluate this offseason as it’s a trait you must have to win in the SEC. Fortunately for Longhorn Nation, they have the Mississippi State game to build upon, where Manning showed some growth and maturity by bringing them back from 21 points down on the road to win in overtime.
In the big picture, Texas had one of the toughest road schedules in the nation and simply wasn’t good enough to overcome it. How Manning and company grow from these road failures will determine how successful Texas is going into 2026 and beyond.
Kendrick E. Johnson writes for various national outlets such as High School on SI, Yardbarker, ESPN Andscape and MMA Weekly. He is an independent print journalist, sports television reporter and multimedia journalist who has covered the NBA Finals, NFL, NCAA football, MLB, NHL, WWE and over 75 world championship boxing and UFC Fights nationally. Johnson has also covered every prep sport possible in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and all across the great state of Texas. He’s done numerous 1-on-1 interviews with some of the biggest names and personalities in sports from Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry and Shaq on the basketball side to Jon Jones, Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford on the combat sports side and John Cena, Jey and Jimmy Uso and Charlotte Flair in WWE.
