This one kind of feels like it deserves a mixed bag of grades. Yes, Texas won easily. Yes, the defense forced four turnovers and made some big plays. Yes, the offense had some home run plays and showed the explosiveness we didn’t see last week. But all in all, this was a pretty choppy performance that came with some highs and some moments of sloppy play.
Texas racked up 472 yards of total offense, but was 2-12 on third downs on the day. That second stat isn’t going to get it done against better competition.
I think it’s important to remember, when viewing these early-season games, that this is still a pretty young team on offense. Arch Manning is still finding his way a bit. It’s an inexperienced offensive line. Most of the skill position weapons in this one (especially with Tre Wisner out) are still learning. You can somewhat understand and justify the offensive lapses, as long as that side of the ball continues to improve.
Arch Manning finished with a very strong line of 19-30 for 295 yards with 4 TDs and 1 INT and a 183.3 passer rating. He added 23 yards and a touchdown on the ground. That’s winning football. In fact, statistically, that’s pretty damn good football. That being said, it does feel like there was plenty of meat that was left on the bone. This was certainly an improvement from last week, but Manning can (and will) play better.
Other random thoughts on the game …
Would have been nice to see the Texas offense come out firing after struggling last week but it was a terrible first series. Big play negated by a hold. Run for no gain. Horrible throw by Arch Manning downfield that was nearly intercepted. Then on third-and-long, pressure on Arch forces an inaccurate throw. Three-and-out.
San Jose State’s field goal kicker … yikes. That guy is not good. After missing two potential game-winning kicks last week, that first attempt in this one could have been more ugly.
Next drive for Texas … Arch places it perfectly on third down but Ryan Wingo has the ball bounce off of his hands, forcing a punt. Texas then gets a stop to pin SJSU deep, but roughs the punter to give SJSU an automatic first down. Not a clean start by Texas at all.
Parker Livingstone the TD machine! We heard about it all spring and all of fall camp, and Livingstone backed it up again with an 83-yard catch-and-run for the first score of the game. He showed his speed in running away from the defense.
After one play, suddenly Arch Manning’s slow start looked like this … 94 yards, 1 TD and a 217 rating with about 3 minutes left in the first quarter.
Next play, Guilbeau with a pick on a tipped ball. Guilbeau will get the credit in the stat book but the defensive front (Lance Jackson and Maraad Watson) applied pressure and Jelani McDonald got his hands on the ball to pop it up into the air.
Parker Living-InTheEndZone-Stone … somebody more clever than me come up with a nickname for Parker Livingstone. That dude is a touchdown machine, catching his second TD on back-to-back drives on a 3-yard slant.
That was a heck of a play by TyAnthony Smith to rip that ball free for what looked like a forced fumble. Not only did he take the ball away, he never let it hit the ground as he basically took possession of it as soon as he pried it away from the runner. One of the focuses this week was forcing turnovers and Texas forced two in basically one quarter of play.
San Jose State time of death … 11:59 a.m. Arch Manning finds a wide open Jack Endries for a 36-yard touchdown. Arch and Endries will get the credit for that play, but hat tip to the offensive line who gave Manning a TON of time to throw to a wide open Endries down the seam.
Tre Moore, you’ve got to get that ball into the end zone! Three straight series with turnovers, this time a forced fumble by TyAnthony Smith (again) and a scoop and (near) score by Moore, who went out at the 1-yard line. This Texas defense had it cooking today. Three plays later, Manning throws a dart to Jack Endries for a 16-yard score, Arch’s fourth touchdown pass of the game.
In five minutes of game clock time, Texas scored four touchdowns on a 10 plays. Incredible.
Texas up 28-0 and people on the message boards are piling on Arch and Sark for the slow start in the first few minutes of the game. Never change, Orangebloods!
Hat tip to Leland Smith for that catch where he pinned it against Kobe Black’s helmet before securing the ball. I don’t care that the play was overturned, that was a hell of a catch.
Coming out of last week’s game, people were saying they want to see more playmaking from Anthony Hill. This week he went out and forced two fumbles in the first half.
Colin Simmons did get a half of a sack in the first half, but he really needs to cut out the penalties. That roughing the passer penalty late in the first half nearly gave SJSU points to end the half.
First half stats of note … Texas 259 total yards, SJSU 178 total yards; Texas 103 yards after catch; Texas 21 points off of turnovers; Texas 6 penalties for 70 yards; Texas 1-6 on third downs; Arch Manning 11-18 for 180 yards with 4 TDs and 1 INT and 207 passer rating; CJ Baxter 11 carries for 56 yards; Parker Livingstone 2 catches for 86 yards and 2 TDs; Michael Taaffe 5 tackles; Anthony Hill and Lione Lefaue 4 tackles apiece.
That was an up and down third quarter. At times, this looks like a championship-caliber team. Other times, I find myself wondering how competitive this team will be in SEC play.
For a guy that did not enroll early, Nick Townsend is getting some valuable time. He logged some snaps against Ohio State and it seemed like he was on the field quite a bit in this one as well.
I didn’t think there was any way Manning was going to stay inbounds on that 20-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. Just about any other quarterback runs out of bounds there, but Manning did a terrific job of tightroping the sidelines for the final few yards to get it in for the score.
The injuries to Colin Simmons and Michael Taaffe didn’t look too serious, but seeing those guys leave the field due to any sort of injury is never good. The good news … Texas can afford to rest both guys for a week or two if necessary.
That Scudero receiver for SJSU is tiny but that dude might have a future in the NFL. If his quarterback didn’t miss him on some wide open routes, he probably would have gone for 125 yards or more.
I liked that Sark kept Manning in the game deep into the fourth quarter and let him still run the full offense. Manning was good today, but he needs all the reps and experience he can get. Letting him throw the ball around while up 38-7 was the right call.
Come on Brandon Baker. You’ve got to eliminate the silly pre-snap mistakes.
I predicted 45-7 as the final score. Probably would have nailed it if Jerrick Gibson doesn’t fumble there at the end of the game. Oh so close!
Look at the top threads on OB with two minutes left in the game, and Texas up 38-7. You’d think the Longhorns were losing …
We’ve been labeling this game (and the next two) as scrimmages, with a chance to work on some things. If that’s the right way of viewing this game, Texas accomplished quite a bit. The Longhorns won easily, they got some young guys some quality work, Arch Manning made progress and the team looks “mostly” healthy coming out of the game. That’s a productive Saturday and while it wasn’t flawless, Texas was solid today in all three phases of the game. On to UTEP.
