Was Texas RB Jaydon Blue Benched vs. Mississippi State?

Texas Longhorns running back Jaydon Blue lost two fumbles in the SEC opener against Mississippi State.

Texas Longhorns running back Jaydon Blue (23) advances the ball as the Texas Longhorns take on Mississippi State at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. / Mikala Compton/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

AUSTIN -- What a difference a week makes.

From a career-best performance to what appeared to be a second-half benching, Texas Longhorns running back Jaydon Blue has been on a rollercoaster the past two games. In Saturday's 35-13 win over Mississippi State in the SEC opener, Blue lost two fumbles and didn't receive a snap for the rest of the game following his second cough-up at the start of the third quarter.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian didn't openly say that Blue was benched but admitted that he wanted to prevent the mistakes from getting into Blue's head.

“I hate it for Jaydon because I know he didn't want to fumble," Sarkisian said. "Nobody goes in thinking, this is what I want to do. Nobody wants to drop a pass, or anything of that sort. But I also am concerned about the psyche of players, too. When he fumbled the first time in the red area, I know he was disappointed. We put him back out there, the second fumble occurred, and again, at that point, it's ‘Hey, let's make sure that we don't lose the player for the long haul.’"

“He’s a very talented player, he's more than capable of taking care of the ball but when it can get into your head, that could become a problem.”

Wisner and freshman Jerrick Gibson received the reps out of the backfield for nearly the entire second half. Wisner finished with 13 carries for a career-high 95 yards, which led the team.

Blue, who scored four total touchdowns and rushed for a career-high 124 yards in the 51-3 win over Louisiana-Monroe, finished the win over Mississippi State with six carries for 36 yards and a touchdown.

Blue's first fumble came on Texas' second drive of the game. After Arch Manning found Isaiah Bond for completitions of 27 and 17 yards, the Longhorns were quickly in position to build a 14-0 lead. But on 3rd and 1, Blue was hit hard at the line to gain and had the ball knocked out right before his knee went down. The Bulldogs recovered and Texas came away empty at the 20-yard line.

Fumbles happen, and Blue remained in the game as Texas headed into halftime with a 14-6 lead. The Longhorns began the second half with the ball, looking to wash away the memory of a mistake-filled first half.

Those hopes ended rather quickly.

While ripping off a 21-yard run on the first play of the third quarter, Blue lost control of the ball once again on his way to the ground. The Longhorns tried to get up to the line and snap the ball, but the officials stopped the play and ruled it a fumble recovered by Mississippi State upon review,

Blue entered the 2024 campaign as the team's uncontested starting running back following the season-ending injury to Cedric Baxter in training camp. He the suffered an ankle injury in the win over Michigan and returned, but was ruled out the following week against UTSA.

His injury certainly wasn't ideal for a Texas backfield that's already with Baxter and Christian Clark for the season and was without graduate transfer Velton Gardner and walk-on Colin Page against the Bulldogs.

However, the ankle injury is hardly to blame for Blue's issues with ball security against Mississippi State. It's not the first time he's had trouble with fumbles either, as Blue lost two fumbles last season, including in the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff loss to Washington at the Sugar Bowl.

“We'll work on it this week with him, Coach (Tashard) Choice, he is a great coach," Sarkisian said. "They've got great rapport. We'll get that figured out because we're going to need (Blue). We're going to need Blue throughout the season. So I don't want anybody think like we're giving up on Jaydon Blue, but in this game, sometimes you have to shift and you have to pivot and we're fortunate enough to have Tre Wisner healthy this week to step in. I thought he played a heck of a second half for us and gave us a really nice spark in the run game.”

Blue and the Longhorns will have a bye week to clean the miscues up before taking on Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry.