4 takeaways from Texas's gritty road win over Arkansas

No. 3 Texas's offense came up huge late, and the defense held strong throughout the game, for a big 20-10 win over Arkansas in a road rivalry game in Week 12.
Jahdae Barron, Texas football
Jahdae Barron, Texas football / Wesley Hitt/GettyImages
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Silas Bolden, Texas football
Silas Bolden, Texas football / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Missed opportunities on offensive drives

Just in the game's first 35 minutes, the Longhorns offense had four drives that went into Arkansas territory where they came away with zero points. Texas also had two drives that got within field goal distance for the Longhorns that resulted in two field goals, instead of much-needed touchdowns to establish some separation on the scoreboard against the Hogs.

Texas's faults should spread the blame across multiple position groups on offense from this game. Multiple Texas receivers had uncharacteristic drops. Senior tight end Gunnar Helm and true freshman wide receiver Ryan Wingo each had their first drops of the season on key second and third down plays in the middle of this game that cost the Texas offense.

The offensive line also struggled throughout this game, including multiple costly sacks allowed in the first half and double-digit tackles for loss.

But Texas's offense had a big response when the team really needed it in the fourth quarter. Arkansas had all the momentum in this game on its side when it had scored 10 straight points to cut Texas's lead from 13 points down to just three.

Ewers and the Longhorns drove the ball down 75 yards on a 5+ minute drive on offense for a key touchdown that put Texas back ahead by two scores around the middle of the fourth quarter.

Texas probably shouldn't have needed to come up with multiple big offensive drives late in the second half had the offense converted more when it got across midfield in the first two and a half quarters. Once again, the Longhorns left a little too much meat on the bone in terms of missed opportunities on potential scoring drives on offense in SEC play against Arkansas.