Texas defeated the UTSA Roadrunners in Week 3, but it was far from a flawless performance by the Longhorns, who are supposed to be the No. 1 team in the country.
A lack of consistency on offense, a plethora of penalties, and a few extra bumps in the road throughout the entire game prevented the Horns from looking their best. As Texas kicks off its SEC schedule next week, head coach Steve Sarkisian cannot afford to let his team make the same mistakes.
"Do we need to play better? For sure," Sarkisian said after the game.
In order to best ensure that the Horns don't look anywhere near as sloppy against the Tennessee Volunteers in Week 4 as they did in Week 3, there are a few lessons Sarkisian has to get through to his players:
1. Arch Manning needs to trust the play call
There were quite a few moments throughout the game when QB1 Arch Manning looked virtually lost when he took the field. And no, I don't mean he didn't know where he was, but he simply couldn't find answers on a consistent enough basis.
Bizarre shovel pass attempts and holding on to the ball too long were just some of the highlights (or, I suppose I should say lowlights) of his questionable performance.
"I feel like Arch kind of fell in love with his legs a little bit tonight, and his legs are a really good weapon," Sarkisian said. "But what happens when you go to run is you can start speeding up through your progressions... but ideally we're in rhythm in the passing game, where the ball's coming out, and we're calling things so he can get completions."
Sarkisian shared that he thinks a lot of it had to do with Manning not always trusting the play call or the options in front of him, causing him to scramble on a number of occasions.
Manning went 17-of-33 (51.5%) for just 164 passing yards and two passing touchdowns. He ran for 50 more yards on the ground.
2. The O-Line has to hold up better
While Manning may have given up on a few plays a little too quickly, there were also a few times when he had to abandon his passing game because the offensive line simply wasn't playing well enough to protect him in the pocket.
The inconsistency in front of him undeniably affected Manning's ability to work through his progressions with the same amount of poise and time as he did in the first two games of the year, leading to those mistakes and questionable plays from Texas's quarterback.
Against the Volunteers in Week 4, the O-Line has to do a better job at stopping the pass rush in order for Manning to evaluate the play unfolding in front of him and give him more time to connect with his elite receivers downfield from him.
"We need to play with more consistency; we need to be more efficient," Sarkisian said. "It's about everybody doing their job every play and executing one play at a time. That's when you're an efficient offense."
3. The lack of discipline on penalties must be erased
For a team that had been called for only six penalties total in the first two games, an eight-penalty performance against a team of lesser caliber than last week was startling to witness.
"We had been really good in the penalty world. Eight [penalties] for 88 [yards] is not good enough; penalties are what cause you to go backwards," Sarkisian said. "I gotta look at why that was occurring on that front."
And he's right, losing nearly 90 yards because you can't play clean football on a consistent basis was a huge problem and will be entirely unsustainable against the talent that Texas is set to face in SEC play.
Now, Sarkisian also made sure to highlight the fact that any problems from Week 2, such as a lack of ball security and third-down defense, were solved after he and his staff had put an emphasis on correcting them over the last week.
So, this week has its own lessons that he and the rest of the program will have to hyperfocus on heading into Week 4.
"We're not a finished product; we're three games in. I will say something about this team: when we challenge them on something, when we ask them to do it, they respond," Sarkisian said.
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