Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 5)

[satyanash 15547]

Collecting post-game $9.95-er articles from the Mississippi State game here:

(Gerald Goodridge) No. 1 Texas wins ugly against Mississippi State: Three things we learned

Quote

The No. 1 Texas Longhorns played one of their worst games of the season at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and still managed to come away with a comfortable 35-13 win thanks to a fourth-quarter offensive explosion. Despite the struggles, Texas came out of its first SEC game with a win, but the margin was not quite the five-touchdown cushion the betting lines indicated. Heading into the bye week, the Longhorns have plenty to coach as they look to the Oklahoma Sooners and Georgia Bulldogs on the other side of the break.

Texas must shore things up on both sides of the line

One of the biggest questions about Texas when the move to the SEC was first announced was its ability to play in the trenches of the SEC. While it appeared that the Longhorns had made the requisite moves to prepare themselves for the conference, their debut gave them plenty to coach going into the bye week. Offensively, Texas surrendered two sacks, seven tackles for loss, and had just 10 yards on the ground through the first quarter. The line also struggled with the little things that turn out to be big — getting flagged for false starts/illegal snaps, plus three holding calls that erased chunk plays. Defensively, the Longhorns struggled with some of the looks and quick adjustments from Jeff Lebby’s offensive scheme and gave up six rushes of 10 yards or more, including the Bulldogs’ only touchdown of the game, a 12-yard scramble by quarterback Michael Van Buren in the fourth quarter.

Texas has options in the backfield

Jaydon Blue, the explosive playmaker who ran for 124 yards and three touchdowns a week ago, lost two fumbles and struggled with consistency. When Texas needed to grind out yards, Quintrevion Wisner received the lion’s share of the carries. Twelve of his 13 attempts came in the second half and seven came in the first quarter — three of which converted for first downs. The former consensus three-star prospect finished the game with 13 carries for 88 yards, both career highs, averaging 6.8 yards per carry and seeming like the featured back when the Longhorns needed one. Blue, despite his struggles, averaged six yards per carry and a score, with plenty of room to work in the bye week.

Texas can create true havoc in the backfield

Texas finished the game with 11 tackles for loss and six sacks in the matchup, led by freshman Colin Simmons, who once again appears to be ahead of schedule. Six sacks is the most by a Texas team under Pete Kwiatkowski and the most since recording eight against Iowa State in 2016. In the contest Texas nearly doubled their sack total on the year and were one off the season-high 12 tackles for loss against UTSA two weeks ago. If the Longhorns can continue that trend, it will lead to success for them as they continue through SEC play.

(Joe Cook) Texas learns valuable lessons and shows important qualities not yet seen in 2024 in win over Miss. St.

Quote

For the first time in 2024, the Texas Longhorns played in a close game. Well, sort of. Texas did end up pulling away from the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday to the tune of a 35-13 win in the program’s Southeastern Conference debut. But the path the Horns took to get there was winding. Texas only lead 14-6 at halftime. Against Colorado State, the Horns were up 31. The advantage was 21 in Ann Arbor and against UTSA. They found the middle with a 24-point lead against ULM.

This was newfound territory for the Longhorns, and their own miscues and mistakes put them in that position. Yet it was something Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian found positives in, especially after Texas pulled a way for a 22-point win. “I’m actually kind of glad that we had some adversity today,” Sarkisian said postgame. “The first four games were kind of smooth sailing. We needed some rough waters to see how we would respond because there’s going to be rough waters ahead. I thought our guys responded really well today. They showed poise and composure. Nobody lost their cool, they stay engaged, and found a way to fight back in a tough game.”

The close margin was due to Texas’ own faults. For the game, Texas committed eight penalties for 65 yards. They only held onto the ball for 25:03. Jaydon Blue fumbled twice and was sidelined after his second surrender of the football in the second half. But the box score indicates that Texas got it together over the course of the game. The Longhorns gained 522 yards. 324 came via the arm of Arch Manning, who was 26-for-31 with two touchdowns plus a rushing score. DeAndre Moore caught those two touchdown passes and tallied 103 yards for his first career 100-yard game. Plus, the Texas defense allowed just the one touchdown after halftime. Mississippi State didn’t even break the 300-yard threshold despite holding onto the ball for almost 35 minutes.

Texas showed some audacity it hadn’t yet been asked to reveal in 2024, and it did so with victorious success. That was a sentiment most if not all of the players made available to the media after the game repeated. “He told us we needed to be in this situations like this,” Jahdae Barron said. “Other games were blowouts, so we needed some adversity so he wanted to see how we were going to adjust and how we were going to finish.” Said Moore: “I think our team responded really well. Sark says, and it’s not just him saying it, it’s true, we can win in a lot of ways and I think we did that today.”

(Sam Khan Jr.) Arch Manning, Texas pass first SEC test: How Longhorns looked with Red River looming

Quote

With Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers out for the second consecutive game, redshirt freshman Arch Manning went 26 for 31 through the air in his second career start as the Longhorns beat Mississippi State 35-13 in their first conference game as an SEC member. Texas was favored by more than five touchdowns at kickoff but struggled to get going against the Bulldogs, who entered on a three-game losing streak. But a 49-yard touchdown pass from Manning to DeAndre Moore Jr. in the final minute of the first half and a 75-yard touchdown drive Manning finished off with his legs late in the third quarter created some separation for the nation’s No. 1 team. Ewers was listed as questionable all week with the strained oblique he suffered in the win against UTSA on Sept. 14, then was officially ruled out on Saturday. He will get extra recovery time before the No. 1 Longhorns’ next game in two weeks, against Oklahoma in the annual Red River rivalry in Dallas.

How Arch Manning looked

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian installed a much different game plan than the one he used in Manning’s first start, last week’s 51-3 win over Louisiana-Monroe. That game was littered with deep pass plays — Manning attempted 10 of more than 20 air yards, per TruMedia — but Sarkisian sprinkled in many more short and intermediate throws this week. Manning’s efficiency improved as a result, after he went 15 for 29 in his first start. “I just didn’t want him to feel like a home run hitter every time he got in the box,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “Playing quarterback, you’re shooting for the Triple Crown. We want to hit with a great average and we want to be able to hit home runs and we want to be able to drive in runs. I felt like last week we were kind of a home run hitter and we were hitting .250 and I wanted to get that average up. I thought he did that today.”

The Longhorns actually leaned on Manning heavily early on as the running game struggled to get going. Texas had just 10 rushing yards in the first half. Manning also took much better care of the ball, avoiding throws into coverage or other danger zones, and finished the day without an interception. He also showed off his running ability again with a 26-yard run that set up an eventual 1-yard touchdown sneak. Sarkisian said after the game that he coached Manning hard on Saturday, challenging him to raise his game to another level. Manning told SEC Network reporter Alyssa Lang afterward that Ewers and Sarkisian were both on the helmet communication during the game and called it “a blessing.”

A smiling Sarkisian, standing next to Manning while speaking to Lang, joked, “I think Quinn’s probably helping out with me ripping (Arch’s) ass even though he’s 26 for 31 for over 300 yards. I was still ripping his ass today, but that’s what we do around here.” Later in his news conference, Sarkisian said he was “proud” of Manning for how he responded to his performance in last week’s game.

Longhorns’ sloppy start

Elite teams are not immune to underwhelming performances, and No. 1 Texas is no exception. The Longhorns had to find a way to survive scares from Kansas State and Houston en route to the College Football Playoff last season. To win the SEC, Texas needs to find a way to win its clunkers, and Saturday certainly qualified as that. Two turnovers, a turnover on downs, a dropped would-be touchdown pass and minimal offensive possessions in the first half made Texas’ SEC opener against Mississippi State a slog.

Complicating matters was an unconventional strategy from Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby, who is known for his wide-open offense that typically operates at a breakneck tempo. Coming into Saturday’s game, Mississippi State had the third-shortest average time of possession per play in the FBS, with only one drive that lasted five or more minutes, according to TruMedia. But in Saturday’s first half, the Bulldogs had two drives stretch past the five-minute mark, including their opening drive that took seven minutes, eight seconds. That strategy controlled the pace and kept Texas from running away with it while also minimizing the pressure on true freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren, who was making his starting debut on the road.

Although the Bulldogs eked out just two field goals before the break, they limited Texas to four first-half possessions, two of which came up empty. A Jaydon Blue fumble ended one, and a third-down drop by receiver Johntay Cook on a deep pass led to a punt on the other. Mississippi State possessed the ball for 21 minutes, three seconds in the first half and limited Texas to just eight minutes and 57 seconds of possession in the first two quarters. But Manning bookended those miscues by leading touchdown drives on Texas’ first and last possessions of the first half. Texas’ ability to pull away in the second half was the sign of a mature team.

How Texas pulled away

The Longhorns’ running game took a while to get going, but once it did, Texas took control. Sarkisian’s early game plan was pass-heavy (the Longhorns called on their running backs for just six first-half carries), but Tre Wisner and Jaydon Blue got going in the second half and finished with a combined 124 rushing yards on the day. Although the start was disjointed, Texas’ win was encouraging in multiple ways. The Longhorns’ success leaning on Manning and the passing game showed that even with Heisman Trophy candidate Quinn Ewers out, that part of the team can carry them if needed. “We’re really a solid six-deep (at receiver),” he said. “That can set some things up for the run game.”

Sarkisian referenced the Bill Walsh-era San Francisco 49ers teams that had a “throw early, run late mentality” and said he couldn’t do that in his early years at Texas because the strength of the team was at running back with Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson. But as the roster has evolved and Sarkisian has loaded the passing game up with two five-star quarterbacks and talented receivers and tight ends, the Longhorns can air it out to open up the run game. And Sarkisian and offensive coordinator Kyle Flood made the necessary adjustments to get the running game going in the second half, which Texas needed in order to pull away. The offensive line and running backs responded with better second-half execution to move the chains and keep the ball in their hands rather than allowing Mississippi State to continue to control the pace.

Longhorns’ defense continues to come up big

Even though Van Buren and the Mississippi State offense held on to the ball early, Texas stood strong, pressured Van Buren and made plays in the backfield. The Longhorns finished with six sacks and 11 tackles for loss and held Mississippi State to just 4 yards per play. Three plays after a Blue fumble to start the second half, Texas defensive lineman Vernon Broughton notched a strip sack of Van Buren to reclaim possession. True freshman edge rusher Colin Simmons finished with three tackles for loss and two sacks, both team highs. Even though Mississippi State averaged more than three minutes of possession on its 11 drives, the Bulldogs only gained an average of 23 yards per drive.

The 13 points Texas allowed on Saturday are a season high. In five games, the Longhorns have allowed just a total of 35 points. “We’re playing really good team defense,” Sarkisian said. “When guys are out, other guys are stepping up and we’re seeing a lot of different guys stepping in and playing and doing some pretty good things for us.”

Quinn Ewers’ recovery

Sarkisian said he’s hopeful Ewers can get close to 100 percent healthy in time for the Oklahoma game on Oct. 12, if not all the way there. Texas is off next week, allowing Ewers and other banged-up Longhorns time to heal. Although having a backup as talented as Manning is a nice luxury, Sarkisian stressed the importance of getting Ewers back soon. “We need Quinn back because he’s our quarterback and he’s our leader,” he said. “That impacts the entire team and belief. But what I think we learned and what Arch kind of earned here over the last two-and-a-half games is that this team can count on him, too. … But when we get Quinn back, we’re all going to be excited for that.”