Texas Has An Arch Manning Problem

An Idiot (me) takes a look at the concerning play from the much-hyped quarterback, as well as a handful of other issues affecting the Texas offense.

I want to start this out with two disclaimers:

1. This is not a statement on who or what I think Arch Manning is going to be down the road as a quarterback, whether it’s a month from now or a year from now. It’s just a literal breakdown of what he put on film against UTEP.

2. Arch Manning is not the only problem with the offense. If this piece doesn’t get too long I may highlight some alarming things I saw elsewhere on offense.

Arch Manning struggling against Ohio State in retrospect shouldn’t have been all too surprising. The fact that he continues to struggle against bad opposition is a giant red flag. Utep was 103rd in the country in pass efficiency defense last year. Texas should’ve been able to score at least 40 points against them. Instead, Texas managed just a paltry 27 points. Time and time against the Miners Arch just made plays that he cannot afford to make if Texas is going to make a run back to the College Football Playoff.

Texas had a 4th & 5 from the UTEP 45 early in the first quarter. Ryan Wingo, the receiver at the top of the screen, is going to run an in-route. The cornerback passes Wingo off to the safety who drops deep. This is a route that is very common in Steve Sarkisian’s playbook and the Longhorns ran it pretty successfully with Quinn Ewers. Arch has to climb the pocket and make the throw when Wingo comes out of his break. Instead, Arch hesitates, steps up and throws it late and behind Wingo for an incompletion and turnover on downs.

One of Arch’s biggest problems is that he cannot get rid of the ball quickly. This is supposed to be a quick strike, fake the handoff and get the ball out. But instead, there’s the slightest hesitation before he gets the ball out. Ultimately it’s a successful play, but he removed any chance of his tight end getting yards after catch with the hitch and it might be forgivable if it weren’t a consistent issue

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The ol’ reliable wheel route. Texas likes to run it with receivers, Wingo in this instance. The other receiver, Parker Livingstone, does a nice job generating traffic without committing offensive pass interference. That springs Wingo open and Arch just misses an easy throw.

This is the most alarming play for me. This time Wingo returns the favor creating traffic for Livingstone who runs a quick out. This is an easy pitch and catch for a first down and maybe more. Instead Manning is afraid to throw the ball and instead runs around and throws a YOLO ball in the endzone for an interception.

I actually want to put more of the blame on Sark for this. Calling a deep shot on fourth down for a quarterback with no confidence in anything he’s doing is like trying to get a toddler to do calculus, but Livingstone does get a step on his man and Arch just overthrows it.

This is one I’d like a little bit more context on. The DB drops deep and Ryan Wingo runs a hitch, it’s not the most confident hitch I’ve ever seen, but it’s a hitch. Arch throws the ball to the outside, way off the mark. Is this just a bad throw? Does Wingo run the wrong route? This a group that isn’t on the same page.

This is where I reached my breaking point. The DB drops deep again, Christian Clark runs a hitch, Arch doesn’t throw a remotely catchable pass. What’s worse is that Clark is a running back. There’s extra importance to throw a catchable ball here. Arch just can’t do it.

Arch deserves the lion’s share of blame for Texas’s struggles in the first half. As the game progressed, there were a lot of problems across the board on offense. There were a couple of things I saw that just drove me absolutely insane.

One thing that shows up on tape a LOT is that Texas’s receivers and tight ends aren’t willing blockers in the run game. This is just one example with Ryan Wingo, but his inability or unwillingness to block in the run game shows up on tape. He’s at the bottom of the screen here. Arch actually makes the right read on an option keeper and gets positive yards, but Wingo won’t engage a defender and it allows UTEP to stop this from becoming an explosive play.

The Texas offensive line is a disaster. Connor Stroh played every snap on Saturday. Out of the 838 offensive linemen who have played at least 25 run snaps this year he ranks 810th in run blocking grade according to PFF. He’s the left guard on the bottom of the screen. If you have trouble identifying him, he’s the guy being pushed into the backfield by a defensive tackle that is 75 pounds lighter than he is.

This play has pissed me off for 24 hours now. Trevor Goosby (left tackle, #74, top of the screen) is Texas’s best offensive lineman. They named him the offensive player of the game on Saturday. On this play he attempts the laziest cut block of all time and allows a free rusher to get a lick on Arch Manning. There is no level of football where this would be an acceptable effort. Any offensive line coach anywhere on Earth would put a foot in the ass of an offensive lineman who got their quarterback hit like this.

Ultimately, this is the big picture thing that concerns me the most. I highlighted how out of his depth Arch Manning is and obvious effort issues from Ryan Wingo and Trevor Goosby. Those are the three players that Steve Sarkisian singled out as leaders on the offense at his press conference on Monday. This offense continues to backslide and is regressing, not improving. They get one more cupcake game against Sam Houston and then a bye week. After that they launch into SEC play at Florida. If this group doesn’t improve quickly and if this leadership group doesn’t start holding themselves and each other accountable out there this is going to end up being a very disappointing season for a team that had national championship expectations coming into the season.