AUSTIN — On a cloudy day, the No. 7 Texas Longhorns were determined to have a bright showing in their first home game against San Jose State.
The Longhorns gave their home crowd a show in a 38-7 win at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
1. Texas played complementary football
After losing to Ohio State last week, head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke about playing complementary football and taking advantage of good field position on both sides of the ball. For the most part, the Longhorns were able to do that against San Jose State.
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Texas stacked the turnover sword for the first time this season after a Jaylon Guilbeau interception in the first quarter. The interception put the offense in a good position on the field, on San Jose’s 34-yard line.
The offense took advantage of it. After two CJ Baxter rushing drives and a bullet thrown from Arch Manning to Parker Livingstone in the end zone, Texas brought the score to 14-0.
Then, Texas did it again on the first play of the second quarter. Ty’Anthony Smith stripped the ball out of San Jose running back Lamar Radcliffe’s hands and recovered the fumble at San Jose’s 36-yard line. It only took one snap for Manning to find tight end Jack Endries for a 36-yard touchdown pass.
2. Penalties still a real problem
Throughout the first half, the Longhorns made mistakes at critical moments. By the end of the game, Texas lost a whole field-length worth of yards in penalties, giving up 115 yards on 12 penalties.
The penalties came from both sides of the ball. The offense ended with six penalties for 60 yards and the defense had four for 45 yards.
First, it was holding on Livingstone that brought back DeAndre Moore’s 23-yard rush. Then, it was a roughing the kicker call, called on Michael Taaffe, that gave San Jose another opportunity to drive down the field. Then, it was a holding call that called back a 34-yard pass to Livingstone to San Jose’s two-yard line.
“It was kind of across the board, which to me, my foot’s got to get in their butt here on Monday morning,” Sarkisian said postgame. “That’s unacceptable. And there’s a standard in which we want to play the game, and 12 penalties does not meet that standard.”
3. Arch Manning shakes off nerves
At the start of the game, Manning looked the same as he did against Ohio State — throwing balls too high or getting off on the timing of his throws. Manning went 1-3 on the first drive and couldn’t connect on his passes to Ryan Wingo. But then, Manning found his new groove.
“I thought today was a byproduct of the week of work. He played aggressive throughout the week. He studied the game plan. He knew exactly what we were trying to do, and I thought today he played more of his style,” Sarkisian said.
Manning threw to Livingstone, his roommate, for an 83-yard touchdown to open the scoring. Manning connected with Livingstone again for the team’s second touchdown.
Manning found tight end Jack Endries for the next two touchdowns. In the third quarter, Manning used his legs for a 20-yard touchdown run.
That’s not to say he didn’t make mistakes. In the second quarter, Manning was put under pressure and threw an interception when Texas was close to the end zone. And in the third, Manning lost the ball on Texas’ own one-yard line, which could’ve been a problem if San Jose recovered it.
However, Manning looked significantly more comfortable on the field, ending the game with 295 passing yards and five total touchdowns (four passing, one rushing).
4. More injuries
Texas walked out of Ohio State without any injuries. The same couldn’t be said after the Longhorns’ first home game.
Texas entered Saturday without running back Quintrevion Wisner and defensive tackle Alex January available due to injuries.
“We just didn’t think it was the right thing to do, to kind of force the issue with (Tre),” Sarkisian said. “I wanted Christian (Clark) to play more. I wanted Jarrick (Gibson) to get opportunities. And so it worked out for us that way.”
Wide receiver DeAndre Moore was helped off the field in the third quarter by a teammate before getting help from the medical team in the tent. Moore spent the rest of the quarter in the locker room before returning in the fourth.
At the start of the fourth quarter, a timeout was called after Colin Simmons stayed down on the field. He walked off the field on his own. On the same drive, Michael Taaffe ran off the field, limping on one leg after getting hit in the knee by someone’s helmet. Neither returned to the field for the fourth quarter. However, both were walking around after the game, and Taaffe said his knee was “good”.
5. Texas couldn’t get the run game started
Texas really struggled to exploit its run game against San Jose. As a whole, the Longhorns ended the game with 155 rushing yards.
CJ Baxter led Texas with 64 yards.
Moving forward, Sarkisian says the run game is up in the air.
“We ran it really good last week. We ran it okay today,” Sarkisian said. “So I don’t know. Verdict’s still out.”
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