The Texas Longhorns fell flat once again as, in two weeks, the Longhorns went from the No. 1 team in the country, riding high with a 4-0 record, to free-falling all the way down to being the No. 19 team in the nation and holding a 4-2 overall record and a 1-2 mark in the SEC.
The Longhorns took another hit to their season this past weekend, losing 27-24 to the Florida Gators, who headed into Austin with back-to-back losses after the Gators dropped games to then No. 25 Missouri and unranked South Carolina.
Texas started the game strong, but its lead quickly deteriorated as the Gators responded with 24 unanswered points. Florida shone a light on the offensive issues for the Longhorns that have now become the topic of conversation surrounding the team.
Texas' Offense Woes Go from Bad to Worse
The Longhorns hadn't been consistent on offense in their three games against Power 4 opponents before facing the Gators.
Against Ohio State, it took Texas four quarters to finally get started in Knoxville; outside of two drives, the Longhorns' offense was held in check in the win, and serious offensive issues began to show their head in the loss to Oklahoma.
The Red River rivalry loss marked the turning point of the Longhorns' offensive issues becoming the biggest concern for head coach Steve Sarkisian's team. The Longhorns struggled to move the football consistently; play-calling started to be questioned, and quarterback Arch Manning's play took a turn for the worse.
The loss to Florida further exposed all of those issues for the Longhorns. Texas managed just three scoring drives offensively, with two coming in the first pair of possessions, and the third wouldn't come until four minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Sarkisian's play calling and game plan struggled as the Longhorns had their second-worst game on offense in terms of yardage, as Texas ended the game with just 272 yards of total offense, 173 yards through the air, and 99 yards on the ground.
And Manning had another down game with his underperformance now becoming a glaring issue as the quarterback consistently misfired throws or made the wrong decisions that hurt the Texas offense.
After the loss, Sarkisian noted that the Longhorns' struggles will lead to a full evaluation of the offense, which includes the rest of the players on offense, his play calling, and the play of his quarterback.
“I just felt like we didn’t play good offensive football and we’re not playing great offensive football right now, so everything is going to be evaluated,” Sarkisian said.
The issues with the Longhorns' offense had been visible in prior games and were especially visible against Oklahoma. However, against the Gators, the offensive miscues and struggles were greatly exposed, and now solving those issues has become priority No. 1 for Texas.
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