Texas offense retains its explosiveness despite mistakes

The Texas Longhorns’ debut in the Southeastern Conference was not a clean game.

With 17 penalties, multiple criticisms and delays, the game was slower than the fans and both teams would have liked. Texas’ biggest opponent in the game was himself.

The Longhorns’ offense racked up eight penalties and a loss of 65 yards. In addition, false starts and blockages prevented the home team from making promising moves.

Nevertheless, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian maintained a certain explosiveness.

“We had, I think, eight penalties on the offensive side of the ball,” Sarkisian said. “So offensively there are a lot of things for us to sort out. But at the end of the day, I think we played, oh, I don’t know, about 60 plays, but to have over 500 yards, that was explosive. “But we can’t keep playing games with two turnovers, false starts and penalties and playing behind the scenes – that’s a recipe for disaster.”

But Texas wasn’t the only team losing distance in the game, and the Longhorns proved they were still stronger despite the comeback mistakes.

“Honestly, I think it was good to experience a little bit of adversity as a football team to actually see where we are as a football team,” said Isaiah Bond, who scored a rushing touchdown. “I think we responded well.”

Despite the mistakes throughout the game, the Longhorns showed one key trait: persistence.

In the third quarter, kicker Bert Auburn added three points to the score, making the game 17-6, but Sarkisian took an offside penalty against Mississippi State to take the points off the board and instead play on 4th-and-3, Texas came up short and ended the trip with no points. The way to the next point was long.

Arch Manning appeared to have managed to get into the end zone at the end of the third quarter, but after a lengthy review, the original no-touchdown call stood. Quintrevion Wisner was still up 14-6 and reached the end zone, but the call for second and goal was reversed. Still 14-6 when an Arch Manning quarterback attempted a quarterback sneak that, to the surprise of many, was deemed a failure upon review.

Finally, on third-and-goal, Manning completed the drive with another quarterback sneak that put the six points on the board, and Auburn scored the extra point.

In the fourth quarter, Wisner found the end zone again on a 36-yard run, but was thwarted. Shortly afterwards, DeAndre Moore Jr. secured the touchdown with a 26-yard catch.

Texas continued to fight for those touchdowns despite struggling to play within the rules. It was a rocky road, but the Longhorns scored 35 points for their first SEC win and held the Bulldogs to 13 points with just one touchdown.

“I’m actually kind of glad we had some adversity today because the first four games went pretty smoothly and we needed some rough water to see how we would respond, because there is.”
“There will be rough water,” Sarkisian said. “I think our boys reacted really well today.” They showed poise and composure. Nobody lost their temper. They stayed committed and found a way to fight back and get away in a tough game. And that’s what the SEC is all about. So I’m proud of them for winning, proud that they were 5-0, but I also know we still have a lot of work to do.”