As it does for every Texas game, the Deep Dig takes an in-depth look at the Texas Longhorns’ most recent performance. How did each player grade out against UTEP? Is the offensive line playing at a higher level than some people think? Or is the line partly to blame for the passing game struggles? The Deep Dig has the analysis, and the numbers to back it up.
Skill Player Snap Counts and Game-by-Game Percentages of Offensive Snaps (Through Week 3)
***please note that exact snap-count numbers may differ from other sources at times, as the Deep Dig does not count plays as offensive player snaps that are blown dead due to penalty, punts, extra points, field goals, spiked balls, victory formations, kneel-downs, etc.***
Personnel-Grouping Frequency Overall and by Game (Through Week 3)
Tight End Total Snap Counts and Alignment Data (Through Week 3)
Team Target Share By Week (Through Week 3)
Deep Dig OL Grading Scale (each snap by each player is graded as its own independent event)
OL Grades (UTEP)
LT Trevor Goosby – 80 snaps
1 QB hit allowed
1 knockdown
DEEP DIG GRADE: 79.13
LG Connor Stroh – 80 snaps
1 TFL, 1 QB pressure allowed
1 knockdown
DEEP DIG GRADE: 76.25
C Cole Hutson – 63 snaps
1 QB pressure allowed
1 pin
DEEP DIG GRADE: 75.95
C Conner Robertson – 17 snaps
1 run-stuff allowed
DEEP DIG GRADE: N/A
RG DJ Campbell – 80 snaps
2 run-stuffs, 1 QB pressure allowed
1 false-start penalty
*1 holding penalty (not counted as the penalty was declined)
1 knockdown
DEEP DIG GRADE: 77
RT Brandon Baker – 80 snaps
1 TFL allowed
2 knockdowns
DEEP DIG GRADE: 78.75
OL Grades by Week
OL Snaps-per-Disruption Allowed (Through Week 3)
OL Snaps-per-Disruption by Week (Cumulative, Post-Week)
2025 OL Inclusions to Historical 80-Plus Point Game List
QUICK FINAL THOUGHTS
Can we blame the offensive line for at least some portion of the offense’s struggles thus far in 2025?
We know we’re not going to convince anyone who’s watched Texas closely to start the 2025 season that Arch Manning is blameless here, as even he would tell you (and has told you) that he absolutely needs to play better. The question isn’t whether Manning has struggled, but one question that many have is … why?
A lack of weapons? Something in his head? The yips? The offensive line? The playcalling? An undependable run game? Bert Auburn?
Thus far in 2025 among starting Texas offensive linemen, 41% of disruption allowed has come in the passing game (sacks, QB hits and QB pressures allowed), 39% has come in the running game (TFLs and run-stuffs allowed), and 20% has come via accepted penalties among the offensive line.
In 2024, 46% of the disruption came in the passing game (56 combined sacks, QB hits and QB pressures allowed); 30% came in the run game (37 total combined TFLs and run-stuffs allowed); and 24% came via accepted penalties along the offensive line (29 total).
So, the offensive line as a unit this year is generally more likely to allow disruptive plays in the run game than they did last year, and less likely to allow QB disruption on any given down. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the unit is a better pass-pro unit than it was last year, it only means that this group, in this year, has thus far had a lower percentage of its disruptive plays come via disruption of the QB.
With that said, we all know that the offensive line this season is not as good as it was last season. It was never going to be, and was never predicted to be. It’s just a fact of life when you lose 4 of five starters to the NFL. Through three games, the average Deep Dig grade for offensive linemen this season has been 77.52, whereas in 2024, it was 79.46. We know that might not seem like a lot, but in the Deep Dig scale, that is the difference between a serviceable-to-good unit overall and a unit whose average is bordering on the level of a possible NFL prospect collectively. So, we have that out of the way, the offensive line is not as good.
But, let’s circle back to what we just said. That the difference has been between a monster OL in 2024 and one that is grading out at a serviceable-to-good level. The Texas 2025 OL, despite it’s mish-mash of characters (DJ Campbell is an enigma from down-to down who grades out all like an All-Pro on one play and a disaster on the next; Connor Stroh is the most unlikely starter at Texas we can remember given the circumstances; Brandon Baker came in as a total mystery box and Cole Hutson’s best attribute is that he knows the offense better than anyone else) has operated at a level that should not inhibit a college football gameplan. It’s what the Deep Dig scale (linked above) literally says:
“GAMES IN THIS AREA REPRESENT GOOD TO VERY GOOD DIVISION I PLAY AND TEAMS WITH AN ENTIRE OFFENSIVE LINE OPERATING IN THIS AREA OVER THE COURSE OF THE GAME SHOULD EXPERIENCE NO DETRIMENT TO OFFENSIVE GAME PLAN DUE TO THE OFFENSIVE LINE.”
If you look at the overall average of starters and major contributors in snaps-per-disruption-allowed, the average number of snaps among this 2025 group (not counting Conner Robertson whose sample seems too small to throw in, but who would elevate the number if we did) is 30.69. In 2024 it was 31.38. Practically the same. However, thus far in 2025, you’d be right to say that it doesn’t really track to measure things in this way because Trevor Goosby is juicing the average big-time with his (probably unsustainable) 66.67 s/dis number while the others are much further down, unlike 2024 where the group was more evenly distributed. And that is true.
So let’s just look at the numbers in totality and not at the per-player averages: In 2024 of the 3,863 offensive line snaps charted, disruption was allowed every 31.66 of them. Of the 1,030 snaps once every 26.4 of them. Perfectly acceptable. Not 2024 good, but fine. So much better than we’ve seen over the recent decade, just not the best of the best. All things considered, the “drop-off” that we’re seeing from the Texas offensive line in 2025 should be considered on the level of what should have been a “glass-half-full” preseason projection of the unit.
Arch Manning needs to play better, and we think he will. He doesn’t even need to improve from what we saw in his 2024 starts — heck, we’d take 2024 Arch in a millisecond at this point. That QB in this offense, with this defense on the other side of the football can go win at an extremely high level.
We need to see CJ Baxter and Tre Wisner get healthy, because an offense cannot make a living running Christian Clark and Jerick Gibson between the tackles. James Simon has shown some nice flashes in this regard but he is a true freshman. Clark can be an explosive piece in the receiving game as his open-field vision is great after-catch — much, much more so than it is behind the line of scrimmage diagnosing run blocks at this point.
And, in the end, we simply need Arch Manning, the CEO of the on-field product, to play at what was previously considered to be his minimum baseline level. All things that are attainable. But we can’t blame the offensive line.
Onward to Sam Houston.
