'Upgrades' to the Texas offense and DC were far from enough vs. Ohio State in first half

All of those upgrades to the roster, making the move to fire Pete Kwiatkowski and to hire Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator, and even with the home-field advantage on their side, the Texas Longhorns still don't have an answer for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

On the first play (the very first play) of the game, Texas quarterback Arch Manning threw a lateral to new running back Raleek Brown, who fumbled as soon as he was hit, and Ohio State recovered the ball. By the grace of all things holy, the Horns held the Buckeyes to a field goal on their subsequent drive.

One drive later, the Texas offense looked like it was finding its footing. That was until Manning tried to connect deep with transfer wide receiver Cam Coleman; the ball popped out as he hit the ground, and Ohio State intercepted it.

On their second drive, the Buckeyes were able to find the end zone and were suddenly up 10-0 while the Longhorns only had two turnovers to show for themselves.

Simply put, the first half was far from what a $45 million roster should look like, even when it's playing against the No. 1 team in the country.

Steve Sarkisian continues to get outclassed by Ryan Day

Over the last two years, the Buckeyes and head coach Ryan Day have had every answer to the questions the Longhorns have presented. Texas hasn't answered any of Ohio State's questions, and that's why head coach Steve Sarkisian is 0-2 against Day.

Texas's third drive ended in a punt, and it wasn't until Ohio State's first drive in the second quarter that the Longhorn defense seemed to come alive, forcing a turnover on downs. The Horns had to settle for a field goal after the defensive stand, and after returning, wideout Ryan Wingo failed to haul in a touchdown pass that hit him in the hands, but they were finally on the board.

Then, of course, losing all of their momentum, the Longhorns failed to convert on a fourth-down attempt as time ran off the clock, so the Buckeyes got to close out the first half with the ball in their hands.

Then, after Brown failed to reach the down marker on a third-down run, Texas went for it on fourth down, and Ohio State forced a turnover on downs of their own, scoring a second touchdown before the half ended.

It was 20-3, and the Horns looked worse against the Buckeyes than they had in either of the first two showings under Sarkisian.

In fact, Sarkisian felt there was so much to work on that he couldn't wait any longer with ESPN's Laura Rutledge and rushed to the locker room to pull his team together at halftime.

Simply put, the first half was an unacceptable showing by the Texas Longhorns, and if they can't figure something out in the second half, we could start hearing a lot of the same rumblings that we heard after losing to Ohio State last year.

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