Texas Offense Retaining Explosiveness Despite Miscues

It's not going to be smooth sailing for the Texas Longhorns, and how they approach it will be the key to success.

Texas Longhorns offensive lineman Hayden Conner (76) celebrates a touhcdown by receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. (0) during the game against Mississippi State at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. / Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Texas Longhorns' Southeastern Conference debut was not a clean game.

With 17 penalties, multiple reviews and delays, the game was slower than fans and both teams would have liked. Texas' biggest opponent in the match was itself.

The Longhorns offense tallied eight penalties for a loss of 65 yards. In addition, false starts and holdings prevented the home team from completing promising looking plays.

However, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian still maintained a certain level of explosiveness.

"We had, I believe, eight penalties on the offensive side of the ball," Sarkisian said. "So, there’s plenty of things offensively for us to clean up. But at the end of the day, I think we ran, oh, I don’t know, 60 or so plays, but to have over 500 yards, there was explosiveness to what we were doing. But we can’t continue to play games with two turnovers, false starts, and holding penalties, and playing behind the chains—that’s a recipe for disaster."

But Texas wasn't the only team to lose yardage in the game, and the Longhorns proved that despite the mistakes, they were still stronger in the comeback.

“Honestly, I think it was a good thing to have a little bit adversity as a football team, to actually see where we’re at as a football team," Isaiah Bond, who scored one rushing touchdown, said. "I think we responded well.”

The Longhorns, despite the errors throughout the game, showed one essential characteristic: persistence.

In the third quarter, kicker Bert Auburn added three points to the scoreboard, making the game 17-6, but Sarkisian accepted an offside penalty on Mississippi State in order to take the points off the board and go for it on 4th and 3. Instead, Texas came up short and finished the drive with no points. The journey to the next point was long.

Arch Manning looks like he had managed to dive his way into the end zone at the end of the third quarter, but after a lengthy review, the original no touchdown call stood. Still 14-6, Quintrevion Wisner found the end zone, but the call got reversed for second and goal. Still 14-6 when an Arch Manning quarter attempted a quarterback sneak that was ruled short upon review to the surprise of many.

Finally on 3rd and goal, Manning completed the drive with another quarterback sneak add the six points to the board and Auburn scored the extra point.

In the fourth quarter, Wisner once again found the end zone in a 36-yard run, but was flagged. Soon after, DeAndre Moore Jr. claimed the touchdown for himself on a 26-yard catch.

Texas kept fighting for these touchdowns, despite struggling to follow the rules. It was a rocky road, but the Longhorns put 35 points on a board for their first SEC win, and held the Bulldogs to 13 points, with only one touchdown.

"I’m actually kind of glad that we had some adversity today, because the first four games were kind of smooth sailing, and we needed some rough waters to see how we would respond, because there’s
going to be rough waters ahead," Sarkisian said. "I thought our guys responded really well today. They showed poise and composure. Nobody lost their cool. They stayed engaged, and they found a way to fight back and pull away in a tough game. And that’s what the SEC is all about. So, I’m proud of them for winning, proud of them for being 5-0, but I also know we’ve got work to do."