5 takeaways from Texas-Florida: Longhorns struggle in all three phases in SEC opener

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As the Florida offense called a timeout on the Texas 5-yard line on the first drive of the game, a storm blew in.

The heavy rain in the distance made the Gainesville campus look hazy. The wind picked up to make the flags dance and a sudden downpour had fans quickly putting on their blue ponchos.

Similar to the storm, the opening drive of the game had a feeling of impending doom. The Gators’ opening offensive script made one of the best defensive teams in the nation look weak, making quick work of 84 yards over 13 plays. Besides a forced fumble on the first play that was recovered by Florida, the Texas defense couldn’t put enough pressure to stop the touchdown run into the end zone when the two teams came back from the timeout.

The rain stopped just as quickly as it came in.

For a Gator fanbase increasingly frustrated with head coach Billy Napier, the matchup was a chance for redemption after a 1-3 start to their season. And they got it.

In its SEC opener, No. 9 Texas lost 29-21 to an unranked Florida on Saturday.

Here are five takeaways from the Longhorns’ loss:

Texas defense struggles

The Texas defense has done well so far this season, ranked fourth in the FBS for total defense, third in rushing defense and second in first downs. Unlike the Longhorn offense at times, the defense had fun against their opponents at home, stacking their turnover sword Texcalibur after their many takeaways. However, the Gators’ offensive scheme seemed to stump the Longhorns.

Florida became the first team so far this season to score on the opening drive and to get over 100 rushing yards on the Texas defense. Gator quarterback DJ Lagway had his best game yet, throwing for a season-high 298 yards.

While the defense had good moments, like a forced fumble in the first half and an interception in the fourth quarter, it missed many key tackles and couldn’t stop the opponent in the secondary.

“Nothing that we did today was out of our control. It had everything to do within our control,” defensive back Michael Taaffe said. “Defense, we asked ourselves to play to a high standard. 450 yards? That’s not good enough.”

However, Taaffe went on to say that he would rather have a loss due to their errors rather than it be out of their control. They can go back, look at the film and fix the mistakes they made.

“I know what I can do, and I know what the other 10 players can do on the defensive field,” Taaffe said.

Complementary football worked — once

When the defense was able to stop the Gators and put the offense in good field position, it led to points for Texas.

Ty’Anthony Smith forced a fumble in the second quarter that was recovered by Anthony Hill Jr. and returned for 21 yards. The Longhorns were up off the bench in excitement, surrounding the two players, because up until that point, nothing was going their way.

The Texas offense was then able to do what head coach Steve Sarkisian has talked about all season — play complementary football.

Arch Manning took the field and threw a 33-yard pass in stride to Parker Livingstone. While the ball wasn’t placed very well, Livingstone made an excellent play, essentially catching the ball with one hand. Quintrevion Wisner, in his first game back from injury, finished off the touchdown drive, catching a 6-yard scoring pass from Manning.

Run game quickly stopped

After their bye week, the Longhorns were able to return a lot of their starting roster, including Wisner, their starting running back. With the inclement weather and the stress of the road environment, it was expected that Texas would be relying on the run game.

That’s not what happened.

Combined with Manning’s 37 yards, the Longhorns rushed for just 52 yards.

“We were a one-dimensional team, and that gets difficult on everybody,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “It gets difficult on the lineman, gets difficult on the quarterback, difficult on the running backs and protection when guys are just pinning their ears back and rushing.”

Mistakes made across all three phases

It wasn’t just that the defense wasn’t doing as well as it normally does or that the offense couldn’t get any momentum going. The special teams unit also had some crucial mistakes.

When kicking off, there were two separate plays in which the Texas special teams could have forced Florida to start from its own 1-yard line. However, in both instances, the ball ended up in the end zone for a touchback. That’s not even considering the Longhorns’ blocked punt in the second quarter that led to a Florida safety.

The good and bad from Manning

If there is one good thing that can be taken away from this away matchup against Florida, it’s that Manning looked better in his passing game — at times.

The redshirt sophomore went 16 for 29, throwing for 263 yards. From a deep ball to Livingstone to a quick short throw to Wisner, the first touchdown drive showed Manning’s confidence. At the end of the third quarter, Manning had a perfectly timed deep throw to Ryan Wingo for the second touchdown of the game. And then again, with three minutes left in the game, Manning threw the ball 41 yards to DeAndre Moore Jr. in what would be the last scoring drive for the Longhorns.

His game fell apart a bit at the end of the game, though. Manning threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter and got sacked six times.

It came at a time when the offensive line was struggling with false start penalties, racking up eight penalties for 50 yards. It seemed like the improvements the team made to clean up their game on the offensive side of the ball were completely erased.

However, it was an improvement from Manning’s last road outing.

“Proud of [Manning’s] competitive spirit, made some big-time plays for us,” Sarkisian said. “I’m sure there’s going ot be a few other plays he’d love to have back, but don’t question his heart at all. He battled tonight.”

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