If you didn’t watch Saturday night’s SEC game in Lexington between the No. 21 Texas Longhorns and Kentucky Wildcats and only peeped at the box score, there wouldn’t have been much doubt about who won and who lost.
But somehow, Texas overcame some major offensive struggles and crawled its way to a 16-13 overtime win.
The offense certainly had a game to forget, but two notable stats show that the win was potentially the worst offensive outing of the Steve Sarkisian era, even more woeful than losses against Iowa State in 2021 and TCU in 2022.
Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning looks to pass during the second quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images
As Eric Henry of Inside Texas pointed out, the Longhorns’ eight first downs and 179 yards of total offense were both low marks for the team since Sarkisian arrived in 2021.
It’s somewhat easier to look past these shortcomings in a win, but Sarkisian admitted after the game that it’s clear there are things that need to be cleaned up as the team heads deeper into SEC play.
“We have to get out of our own way offensively,” Sarkisian said. “The self inflicted wounds. I am proud of the team tonight for winning, but we have a lot of specific areas we need to get to work on come Monday.”
Though the offensive line was right at the center of the issues, Arch Manning had some notable struggles as well.
Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning looks for an open receiver during the first quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images
That said, Manning played poorly as well. After a solid game against Oklahoma, he missed open receivers on a handful of occasions but fortunately avoided putting the ball in harms way.
Manning finished 12 of 27 passing for 132 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. He had a 14-yard run in the first quarter but was ultimately unable to find any success with his legs.
Somehow, this passing yardage total was not the lowest in games he has started, as Manning finished with just 114 yards on 11 completions in the win over UTEP in September.
“I think he’s a competitor, like all those guys in that locker room,” Sarkisian said of Manning. “And he wants to do well. And he’s a great team guy, he’s a great teammate. And he sees how well the defense is playing, and he wants to play well for those guys, too. So the competitor in him, you know, he’s grinding it out, bleeding, everything’s going on.”