After losing to the unranked, 1-3, Florida Gators & falling to 3-2 on the year, both the AP poll & the Coaches poll have completely dropped the University of Texas from their NCAA Football Top 25 Rankings. It was just a month ago the narrative around the Horns, & their 0-1 record was, "that's a quality, one-score, road loss at Ohio State 14-7". I wonder if by one-score game, they meant the margin of defeat was one score. Or, as is also applicable in this instance, a game you lose & you can only score once? in all seriousness, even for an Aggie that conclusion wasn't entirely indigestible. Although, most acknowledged that at times it appeared Arch Manning was experiencing significant mechanical hiccups in his throwing motion. In particular on his deep balls, I noticed his wrist was cocked sideways at the apex of his motion, which prevents a proper release of the football, & resulted in Arch going 17/30 for 170 yards & an INT.
That wasn't shocking, against Ohio State. But, what was totally unexpected was Texas to then come out in weeks 2-4, as they did. In those three games, against weak Group of 5ers; San Jose, UTEP, & Sam Houston, UT failed to notch one commanding victory. The formerly #1 Ranked Texas Longhorns, hit their bye week 3-1, having not played near the level of a #1 team, & frankly not near the level of a top 10 team.
The Longhorns, fresh off their bye week, did not appear to be prepared to play an SEC conference game. The UT defense which was widely touted as "among the best in the country", received a beatdown by a QB & a Head Coach that were both on metaphorical life support going into Saturday. Failures by the punting unit allowed a Florida to block a punt, which lead to a Safety. But, by halftime it was clear the core problem that must be addressed isn't on the defense or special teams.
The problem sits squarely upon the offense. Blame has been passed around & dropped on the play calling, lack of a quality back, & now after this week its, "...the O-Line isn't blocking". I went back & watched every offensive possession UT had against Florida. After watching each play, it's not the O-Lines fault. A QB & Head Coach that fails to say, "the guys up front gave us everything they had. I just have to be better, if we're going to win." when asked what's the problem! The problem is Arch. If you just watch the first half of that game, it is glaringly obvious Arch's QB play is killing UT. Arch just can not go through his progressions in enough time to deliver the football. It's almost hard to understand, how on the first drive, Arch wasn't able to pull the trigger on a screen pass. That particular play seems to be the genesis of the "O-Line can't block" narrative. It certainly isn't the greatest look for an Offensive Lineman, when their QB can't handle the pressure on a screen pass! There were several instances where UT had 2-3 illegal men down field, blocking DBs, & no penalties were called. All Arch needed to do was complete the simplest dump off to the TE or RB, but he couldn't execute these simple passes. In my review of the tape, I never saw one blown O-Line protection, leading to free rushers. Arch had the time to get the job done. The SEC game looked too fast for the tiny private school product, & he just froze. When Florida left a LB to spy on Arch, it got even worse. I suppose if I were Steve Sarkisian, I would go down with Arch. But, if I am one of the offensive linemen being saddled with the blame, to protect the QB's emotions & image, at the expensive of my draft stock. I am going to let them know what it really looks like when an "O-Line isn't blocking", before I hop in the transfer portal.
