The Texas Longhorns continue to dominate on defense, but also continue to look as shaky as possible on offense for a group that is supposed to be part of the No. 1 team in the country.
A sputtering or "staling" offense, as ESPN's Chris Fowler put it during Texas's Week 4 win over the Tennessee Volunteers, isn't sustainable for a team looking to carry on winning in a conference like the SEC, especially with the schedule the Horns have this season.
So, with a bye week now upon them, there are quite a few things that Steve Sarkisian and his staff must instill into their players' minds and gameplay before conference play continues (and that starts in just two weeks against the Oklahoma Sooners).
3. Discipline, discipline, discipline
Since the start of the 2025 season, the Longhorns have been one of the most penalized teams in the country. And when I say "one of," I mean they have literally been the second-most penalized team in all of college football, with 133 penalties, only trailing the Pittsburgh Panthers with 135.
That was on full display against Tennessee as the Horns were called for 11 penalties, virtually handing the Vols 115 yards on either side of the ball.
This is something that has, clearly, been an ongoing trend for Texas and something that defensive coordinator Will Muschamp was supposed to help improve. It looked like he had done so until the third game of the season, and the issue undeniably flared up while playing on the road in Knoxville.
With road games at hostile environments, like LSU and Texas A&M, still on the docket, the Longhorns are going to have to double down on their efforts to keep the preventable and unnecessary penalties to a minimum.
2. Pass protection is a must for Arch Manning
It has become blatantly obvious that Texas quarterback Arch Manning performs at his best when he has time to actually work through his progressions and think through the options in front of him.
He didn't have much time to do that in Week 4, with the offensive line giving up six sacks and 10 tackles for loss against Tennessee.
The O-Line has to play better; it's truly that simple. That applies to pass plays, run plays, or options. If the offensive line cannot step up, especially against pass-rush-heavy teams like Oklahoma, LSU, Missouri, and Texas A&M (just to name a few), we will see the Texas offense go "stale" once again.
1. Get the run game up and... running
Along that same vein, the run game must get going for the Horns' offense to be able to produce points down the line. That much could be seen whenever Texas had the ball in the red zone against Tennessee, and the only way the Horns found the end zone was by running back Raleek Brown running the ball in.
The ability to run the rock not only helps sustain drives, but it also takes pressure off the quarterback to perform on every single play.
Of course, Texas was without its true RB1, Hollywood Smothers, while playing the Vols, but producing just 61 yards from the ground game isn't something that can carry over into the rest of the season. Just look at the Horns' comeback win over Ohio State, for example: Smothers and Brown combined for 128 rushing yards, and it helped the offense find its footing through the fourth quarter.
To put it lightly, the run game has to be more consistently productive, and the rest of the offense will benefit.
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