We are in the fallout of Texas’ loss on the road at Ohio State this weekend, and it’s time to look forward. Texas has four weeks and three games before SEC play begins so I thought it’d be a good time to breakdown what the Longhorns need to show before going to Gainesville to bring confidence all the way back for the fanbase.
Confidence & Consistency From Arch Manning
From the very first pass of the Ohio State game, Arch Manning did not look comfortable. That is a massive credit to Matt Patricia and the Ohio State defense, but does bring an issue for Texas moving forward. It’s something that can be cleaned up, but only if he can play more consistently and clean over the next three weeks. You have three games to allow Manning to get into a groove, get his mechanics back in line and move into the Florida game with more confidence and comfort than heading into Ohio State. This comes down to Arch fixing some of the issues that have plagued him, Sarkisian giving him more “lay-ups” to get that confidence up and the players around him making plays after the catch.
More Rotation On Both Sides Of The Ball
In the Ohio State game, Texas only played four wide receivers, and one was Daylan McCutcheon playing four snaps. That is not all that surprising, considering the challenge the Ohio State defense is for young players. That being said, you will likely need more WRs rotating in when SEC play starts. That means you have to use these three weeks to get on the field and get as many reps as possible in the game. On defense, Derek Williams only played 12 snaps in this game, with Michael Taaffe and Jelani McDonald holding down those positions, playing every snap of the game. More rotation here is inevitable to me, so you have to use these three weeks to figure out what that looks like. In the pass rush, Zina Umeozulu(6 snaps), Brad Spence(5) and Colton Vasek(4) did not play nearly as much as many expected, and all are pieces that can make this pass rush special for Texas. Sarkisian and company need to get those guys on the field more.
Chaos Forced By The Defense
Texas did not have a single sack or turnover in the game Saturday. Ohio State did a great job of getting the ball out of Sayin’s hands fast, but it’s unlike this defense to not be able to cause havoc in a game. You should be given plenty of chances to get both many sacks and turnovers over the next couple of weeks. It was a point Ethan Burke made in the postgame presser, saying their expectation is to force three turnovers a game. That might be lofty, but this is essential for this defense to cause havoc and chaos if they want to win the next big game on the road.
More Diverse Play Calling
It’s hard for me to say Sarkisian did a bad job on Saturday, because there were multiple nice calls that were spoiled by either Arch missing it, or the Ohio State defense taking it away. That being said, the next couple of games, you have the ability to get the screen game more involved, utilize Arch’s legs without (as much) fear of injury and get back on schedule offensively. Obviously, you don’t want to give anything away, but I would love to see a deeper playcalling “bag” going forward before the Florida game.
What Mason Shipley Can Do
You would obviously love for every drive to end in a TD, but there is still an unknown on this football team and it’s Mason Shipley. He knocked home an extra point after the Parker Livingstone TD, but we did not get to see him kick a FG all afternoon. That is something I would like to see multiple times over the next three weeks. It is something I’m sure we will see over the next three weeks, but if we could get a 3/3 FG performance with a 50+ yarder on Saturday, that would make the confidence level around the special teams unit soar.
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Five Longhorns fixes – Consistency from Arch, rotation at WR and more