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I spent this past week doing a lot of reflection before our staff celebrated the YouTube channel surpassing 100,000 subscribers. The story of our channel doesn’t begin on April 18, 2021, at least not for me. It starts in 2015. Back then, I covered the team for one season, but my postgame content wasn’t moving the needle. My approach worked for the outlets I’d worked for previously. However, by the time I interviewed the coach, gathered player reactions, and posted my content two or three hours after the game ended, most Orangebloods fans were either asleep or simply didn’t care. Ketch challenged me to find new postgame content that would actually matter.
That challenge sent me into several days of research, searching for a fresh way to present a postgame article. I hated every idea—until it hit me. What if we went live after games instead of waiting to write? Why not host a live postgame show on Facebook and talk through everything we’d just seen? I discovered a publishing platform called Be.Live and pitched the idea to Ketch. He loved it. We became the first Longhorn website in this market to have a live postgame show. Ketch shared his expertise from his laptop at home, while I scrambled to find an empty room at every stadium. If my math is correct, Ketch and I have appeared on roughly 129 postgame shows entering the 2025 season.
Over this 10-year run, there’s one phrase we’ve heard Longhorn coaches repeat within the first few weeks of far too many seasons: “All of our goals are still in front of us.” Charlie Strong said it after early losses to BYU, Notre Dame, and Cal. Tom Herman used it following back-to-back season-opening losses to Maryland and again after LSU defeated Texas in 2019. Steve Sarkisian leaned on it after the loss to Arkansas during his first year. Typically, the moment Ketch and I heard that phrase, we knew the season was probably over before the Red River Rivalry.
However, as Texas enters the bye week, no matter what we saw before Saturday’s win against San Jose State, Longhorn fans can safely say, “All of our goals are still in front of us,” and not worry about waving the white flag on the season.
“I’ve always felt like we were not going to be a finished product after one week, two weeks, three weeks, or even four weeks,” Sarkisian said. “We were going to be a work in progress early in the season, and we’ll still be a work in progress as we grow through the SEC.
“The idea is: are we improving? You can’t fix everything at once. You try to identify areas where we need to get better and work on them. I think we’re improving as a team. I know sometimes, like last week, the results weren’t what we wanted, or the way it looked, but I know what we looked like on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so I know what’s in there. The goal was to get it out of them, let them feel it, and gain confidence from it.
“We also know it’s going to be really challenging in what lies ahead. I’m not consumed with what it will look like in December. I’m more focused on what we’ll look like in two weeks, because we need to play good football. Everybody will say, ‘We’re playing Florida, they’re 1–3,’ but that’s a really good team. They’ve had a tough schedule and lost a tough one a few weeks ago. That’s a talented, hungry team trying to get their first SEC win. We’re going to need to play good, and we need to prepare to play good.”
There is no need to overreact—or underreact—to the win against Sam Houston State.
Texas played a JV team, but finally played the role of big brother. After struggling offensively in wins against San Jose State and UTEP, Sarkisian’s offense can enter the bye week without hearing a ton of criticism.
Arch Manning completed 18 of 21 passes for 309 yards and three passing touchdowns, plus five carries for 11 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Ryan Wingo had four receptions for 93 yards and two touchdowns. DeAndre Moore had five receptions for 79 yards.
Heck, Sarkisian even decided not to go for it on fourth down—twice—and allowed Mason Shipley to kick a 29-yard field goal and a 38-yarder.
“Offensively, we found a rhythm and were explosive,” Sarkisian said. “I think we had 20 explosive plays and scored on our first nine possessions, seven of which were touchdowns. We ran it and threw it in a variety of ways. We found the connection with Arch and Ryan, which is big for us. The emergence of DeAndre being back was really helpful for Arch as well. All four backs that carried the ball did nice things. We utilized [Ryan] Niblett in some different ways, in the backfield and in the slot, and he obviously had the screen for a big play.”
Nevertheless, we cannot ignore what occurred before Sam Houston State.
Ohio State happened.
The offense struggled against San Jose State and UTEP.
The SEC schedule is looming—and anything can happen.
Texas will travel to play Florida on October 4. Will Texas face the Florida team that struggled against FSU, USF, and LSU? Or will Texas face the Florida team that hung tough against No. 4 Miami during a 26-7 loss on Saturday?
Oklahoma does not resemble the team Texas curb-stomped in two of the last three seasons.
Kentucky is still Kentucky.
Mississippi State defeated Arizona State and is actually 4-0.
Vanderbilt defeated Virginia Tech and South Carolina and is 4-0.
Georgia is still the best team in this conference.
Arkansas is close to becoming a dumpster fire.
Texas A&M defeated No. 8-ranked Notre Dame, and the Aggies are legitimate.
Will Texas finish 8-0 in conference games?
That is asking a lot.
Is 7-1 likely?
What about 6-2?
What about less than that?
Texas will probably not make the College Football Playoff with a résumé that includes a loss to Ohio State and two SEC programs. Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Alabama believed a 9-3 record would be enough to make the playoffs last year, but the selection committee let those programs know that quality losses are not greater than quality wins.
Trust me, Ketch and I do not want to cover a team that finishes 9-3, or worse.
That would walk us down the road to another phrase we’ve heard coaches utter over the years:
“We just need to get our seniors to a bowl game.”
Hell no.
Let’s stick with, “All of our goals are still in front of us.”
“And again, I’ve been saying it—and I know you were probably thinking I was crazy the last couple of weeks—we’ve been practicing really good,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve been practicing with real intent, practicing very physical. To be able to bring it all to the game tonight was important for us, that the belief in our preparation and those habits is a winning formula for our success, because we’re going to need that heading into SEC play.
“We all want to play good on Saturday afternoon and Saturday night, and we’re going to need to in the SEC. But we need to prepare and practice really good. That’s what this league requires. It requires a level of physicality, execution, and mental and physical toughness that you have to have week in and week out.
“We get a bye to clean some things up. We weren’t perfect tonight, but there are things we have to correct in all three phases. Then it’s back to the grind, week in and week out. I know that’s the old coach’s cliché, but in our conference, that’s how it goes. There’s not one team in this league that can’t beat another. You can’t just say, ‘If these two teams play, that team is going to win.’ I’m telling you right now, our conference is deep—top to bottom, there are very good football teams. You’ve got to be physically and mentally prepared to play every week.”
Texas vs. Sam Houston: Team & General Notes
(Provided by UT)
• Tonight’s captains: DeaAndre Moore Jr., Trey Moore, Ryan Niblett, Jelani McDonald
• Texas’ 31-point halftime lead was its largest since leading Florida by 35 at the break in 2024.
• The Longhorns have rushed for 100+ yards in all four games this season.
• Texas improves to 2–0 all-time vs. Sam Houston, outscoring the Bearkats 111–3.
• The Longhorns are now 25–0 vs. Conference USA opponents — the most wins without a loss by any FBS team against the league.
• Texas topped 50 points for the first time since scoring 51 vs. UL Monroe in 2024.
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Offensive Notes
Team Highlights
• Texas opened the game with a seven-play, 76-yard drive, capped by Jerrick Gibson’s 13-yard rushing TD — the first opening-drive touchdown since Jan. 1 vs. Arizona State.
• The Longhorns racked up 361 first-half yards, their most in a regular-season first half since 391 vs. Rice on 9/18/2021.
Individual Highlights
• RB Jerrick Gibson (So.) – Scored his first rushing TD of the season (5th career) on a 13-yard run.
• QB Arch Manning (So.):
• Rushed for a TD for the third straight game (5-yard run, 0:45 1Q).
• Added a 2-yard rushing TD late in the second quarter, giving him back-to-back games with multiple rushing scores.
• Threw a 32-yard TD pass to Jordan Washington, marking his third straight game with both a passing and rushing TD.
• Joined Sam Ehlinger, Colt McCoy, and Vince Young as the only Texas QBs this century with 2+ passing and 2+ rushing TDs in a game.
• WR Ryan Niblett (So.) – Logged a career-long 39-yard reception, surpassing his previous high of 15 yards.
• TE Jordan Washington (R-Fr.) – Hauled in his first career TD catch (32 yards from Manning).
• WR Johntay Wingo (So.) –
• Scored on a 53-yard TD reception, his second straight game with a touchdown.
• Finished with 4 catches for 93 yards and 2 TDs, his first career multi-TD game.
• Has at least one catch in all 11 home games to start his career (3rd-longest streak at DKR since 2000).
• QB Matthew Caldwell (Sr.) – Ripped off a 50-yard rush, the second-longest by a Texas QB in the last decade (behind Manning’s 67-yarder in 2024).
• RB Christian Clark (Fr.) – Scored his first career rushing TD (5 yards, 4Q).
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Defensive Notes
• Texas has not allowed a score on an opponent’s opening drive in 14 straight regular-season home games (dating to Sept. 2023).
• Posted their first shutout since the 2024 opener vs. Colorado State.
• Recorded two first-quarter sacks for just the second time since the start of last season.
• Held Sam Houston without a first down in the first quarter for the first time since 10/11/2014 vs. Oklahoma (first down allowed at 1:10 in 2Q).
• Forced a turnover for the 20th consecutive home game (longest active FBS streak), converting 39 takeaways into 155 points during that stretch.
• Limited their opponent to under 100 rushing yards for the fifth straight game, matching their longest stretch in nearly two years.
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Special Teams Notes
• K Mason Shipley – Nailed field goals from 29 and 38 yards, extending his streak to 14 straight makes (dating back to last season at Texas State). He’s 5-for-5 since joining the Longhorns.
