Texas Football: 4 overreactions to the stunning upset loss to Arkansas

Kyle Flood is doomed along the offensive line this fall

What is very likely the biggest negative of all for this Texas offense in the first two weeks of the regular season is the lagging play along the offensive line. Texas had a bad week in the trenches on offense last weekend, and it didn’t get much better in this loss to Arkansas. While it wasn’t as bad across the board in pass protection, the run blocking was terrible in Fayetteville.

New offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood looks to have his work cut out for him in the trenches heading into the final leg of the non-conference slate. And this looks to be the same uphill battle that former Texas offensive line coach Herb Hand faced in two out of the last three seasons during his time with the Longhorns staff.

Flood largely relied on junior offensive guard Junior Angilau and redshirt senior offensive tackle Derek Kerstetter to anchor this line in 2021. And while Angilau was one of the higher-graded linemen for the Longhorns in this game in coming back from the leg injury he suffered last weekend, Kerstetter didn’t look good at all.

Kerstetter is largely struggling out of the gates this fall, which definitely isn’t a good sign for Flood. His most experienced and proven offensive linemen coming into the season is not playing well. Kerstetter has now allowed seven quarterback pressures through two games, which is just three shy of the amount he allowed in all of last season.

Although Kerstetter is a looming sign of danger for Flood and the Longhorns in the trenches this fall, he’s not the only one struggling out of the gates. Center Jake Majors is not doing well in pass or run blocking out of the gates this fall. Denzel Okafor and Christian Jones are holding up well at times, but both had their fair share of struggles in the last two weeks too.