Steve Sarkisian is in a league of his own when it comes to this offensive tendency

Though Texas' passing game started off pretty slow in 2025, it's now become somewhat of a well-oiled machine thanks to the way Steve Sarkisian has been able to make things easier for Arch Manning over the past handful of games.

According to well-known college football statistician, Parker Fleming (@statsowar on X), Texas is currently using pre-snap motion in the passing more than any other team in the country.

Using pre-snap motion in the passing is incredibly helpful to a quarterback for two reasons:

1. It helps distinguish the type of coverage that the defense is utilizing, zone or man.

2. It can create schematic mismatches at the snap for the offense.

When a quarterback motions a receiver before the snap, it forces the defense to "show it's hand" in regards to coverage identity. If a defender chases or follows the receiver to his new spot, it's man coverage 90% of the time. If nobody chases or follows the receiver to his new spot, it's zone coverage 90% of the time.

For obvious reasons, knowing the coverage type beforehand is huge and can be a game-changer in the short to intermediate areas of the field. This is one of the main reasons why Arch Manning has looked better in general as of late. He's able to basically pre-plan things in his head before the snap due to knowing the cover types early.

Motion can also help the offense by getting a head start on a specific route or action at the line of scrimmage. For example, if a slot receiver goes into motion across the formation, the quarterback can take advantage of it by getting the ball snapped and quickly hitting that player before the defense has time to react in an advantageous way.

Ryan Wingo's 75-yard touchdown against Vanderbilt was also a great example of what can happen when you target the motion man against zone defense.