The Texas Longhorns are officially 0-1 after a defensive battle in Columbus, dropping game one of the 2025 season 14-7 at the hands of Ohio State.
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It wasn’t the result fans were hoping for, and definitely not the way they expected Texas to play. The defense was expectedly deep and played nearly perfectly outside of three plays, but the offense’s faults were striking.
Arch Manning struggled in his first road game; the run game was adequate but not ceiling-raising, and receivers struggled to separate against an NFL-like OSU defense. Add penalty problems and more duds in the red zone, and the Texas offense scores just seven points.
When we spend so much time in the offseason speculating in the offseason about roles and player usage, it can be good to step back and just look at what’s in front of us. PFF tracks every snap and alignment of players on both sides of the ball, allowing us to take away a few key data points looking forward.
Just seven skill players were used extensively
Texas kept its rotation of skill players tight. Only the starting lineup, as well as RB CJ Baxter and TE Spencer Shannon, played more than five snaps yesterday. It’s clear that Shannon is the team’s TE2, at least in 12 personnel, with Jordan Washington registering just three snaps. Freshmen Daylan McCutcheon and Nick Townsend combined for three.
This was a known possibility heading into the game. Head coach Steve Sarkisian was going to use the players he trusted, and the rotation looked even thinner with WR Emmett Mosley on the sideline injured. Texas would ideally like to run a four-WR, two-TE rotation with Mosley and the aforementioned five players. Look out for freshman Kaliq Lockett to earn snaps later in the season, alongside McCutcheon, if the receivers continue to struggle with separating.
At RB, you’re hoping to see some Christian Clark going forward. He brings a dynamic, home-run potential that neither of the current backs possesses. Understandably, they’d keep him restrained for a game against Ohio State in his first time playing since his torn Achilles, but he must be a part of the rotation going forward.
Stroh was the go-to at LG
You probably didn’t need a stat site to tell you this, but Connor Stroh played 45 more snaps than Neto Umeozulu at LG yesterday. Texas offensive line coach Kyle Flood may be looking for a similar rotation to last season, where Cole Hutson would relieve DJ Campbell on certain drives.
STAR remains a rotation
The slot snaps were as follows:
Jelani McDonald: 10
With how Littleton played in his first-ever college game, in Ohio Stadium, this may just be his job long-term, but for now, it looks to be the same rotation Inside Texas has been reporting for a few weeks now. Littleton played 19 total snaps, while McDonald and Taaffe led the team with 59.
Defensive line rotation
Here were the defensive line snaps for interior players (January played 1 snap off the edge):
The roles begin to emerge in this room. Hero Kanu was the No. 1, but fourth-choice DT Cole Brevard played just 13 fewer snaps. It truly is a rotation of players, but Kanu emerges as the No. 1 with his ability to be a disruptive player at the defensive end role. Ohio State’s insistence on playing 12 personnel throughout the game (107 TE snaps on 59 total plays) meant that Texas found itself in base often, which allowed Kanu to slide over and allow another interior defender into the lineup.
Maraad Watson and Alex January were often a tandem, with Watson taking more nose and interior snaps and January sliding over to face off against OSU’s big tackles.Brevard was a jack-of-all-trades player, while Travis Shaw was the team’s main nose tackle. Lavon Johnson and Justus Terry did not play.
Edge wasn’t quite what we expected
With all the talk this offseason of Trey Moore playing off-ball more, it was interesting to see him line up off the edge on 27 of 37 snaps. A lot of that has to do with Ohio State playing in heavy sets a lot, allowing for Moore to work downhill as the Sam linebacker, but he was also their first choice EDGE when Colin Simmons and Ethan Burke weren’t in the game. The trio combined for 84/108 total snaps off the edge in the game, a notable 78%.
The quartet of Colton Vasek, Zina Umeozulu, Brad Spence and Lance Jackson combined for just 22 snaps, total. Vasek is the most surprising name, as it seemed like his role would be as the team’s third edge and Burke’s immediate backup. He played just four snaps. All four of these players will see more action in the next three games and throughout the season, but that was an intriguing piece of information.
Small Secondary Note
Derek Williams played just 12 snaps. Kobe Black played 17. Xavier Filsaime played three, while Jordon Johnson-Rubell did not record a snap. DC Pete Kwiatkowski trusted his main guys this game. We doubt Williams plays that little going forward.