Texas escaped a rock fight with Kentucky on Saturday night, squeezing out a 16-13 overtime road SEC win after a stellar defensive effort and a game-winning field goal from Mason Shipley.

The win keeps the No. 21 Longhorns’ slim College Football Playoff hopes alive, a week after Texas (5-2, 2-1 SEC) toppled rival Oklahoma.

Texas held Kentucky (2-4, 0-4) to just 4.6 yards per play and one touchdown, enabling an anemic Longhorns’ offense to do just enough to escape Lexington with the victory. Texas’ defense racked up 11 tackles for loss, five sacks, an interception and produced a critical goal-line stand in overtime when Kentucky opted against a field goal and went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1.

GOAL LINE STAND IN OT 🤯@TexasFootball x 📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/XyS3rWt1g7

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) October 19, 2025

That stop made the offense’s job academic: don’t turn it over and let Shipley do the rest, which he did, connecting on a 45-yard field goal to send Texas home victorious.

The Longhorns are relieved to leave Lexington with a win, and they should be. SEC road wins are usually difficult, regardless of records.

But the victory also laid bare glaring issues and leaves fans and alumni wondering: Why does Texas’ offense look so inept?

Texas gained just 179 yards on Saturday, the lowest offensive yardage output of the 62-game Steve Sarkisian era. It was only the second time in Sarkisian’s five seasons at Texas that the Longhorns failed to reach 200 yards. Their previous low was a 199-yard showing in a 17-10 home loss to TCU in 2022.

The running game was virtually nonexistent. Texas finished with just 47 rushing yards and averaged 1.7 yards per attempt. Running backs Quintrevion Wisner and Christian Clark combined for 15 carries and just 50 yards.

The passing game never got into a rhythm, as quarterback Arch Manning finished 12-of-27 passing for 132 yards and no touchdown passes. He distributed the ball to seven receivers, but none reached 40 receiving yards on Saturday.

And the offensive line had its hands full again, as it has often this year. The Longhorns’ line, which was shorthanded without starting center Cole Hutson and guard Connor Stroh, allowed three sacks and seven quarterback hurries on Saturday night. Texas has allowed quarterback pressure on 42.4 percent of dropbacks this season, which is the fifth-highest rate in the country, according to TruMedia.

Why the Longhorns’ offense is struggling

How is this the offense that Sarkisian, one of the most respected offensive minds in the sport, has produced in his fifth year on the job after multiple top-10 recruiting classes?

One of the most evident issues with the Longhorns is a lack of explosive playmakers akin to what they’ve had on the Forty Acres the last four years. The offensive talent appears capable, but not elite. There is no Bijan Robinson in the backfield. There is no Xavier Worthy or Matthew Golden at receiver. Who among Texas’ offensive skill position players strikes fear in SEC defensive coordinators the way those NFL Draft picks did?

All five starters on the offensive line are homegrown recruits. Only one of them had significant starting experience before this season — right guard DJ Campbell — after four of Texas’ 2024 starters departed. Three were drafted, and the other exhausted his eligibility. Some wonder if Texas should have tapped into the transfer portal to bring in veteran linemen, but Sarkisian said earlier this month the current personnel are “more than capable.”

Texas has a young offense and that explains some of the growing pains. Of the 11 typical offensive starters, only four — Wisner, Campbell, receiver DeAndrew Moore and tight end Jack Endries — came into the season with double-digit career starts and Endries’ starts came at his previous stop, Cal.

Although inexperience can explain away some of the miscues, it doesn’t absolve what we saw on Saturday. In the Longhorns’ seventh game of the season, the offense doesn’t look markedly better than it was in the Week 1 loss to Ohio State. It looked like it had regressed, a surprising development after having a competent showing against an elite Oklahoma defense a week prior.

Manning, after playing a clean, mistake-free game against the Sooners, missed several throws against Kentucky. He missed an open Wingo on a crossing route in the first half and a wide-open Endries late in the game that could have kept a drive alive.

The lack of any explosive runs allowed Kentucky to tee off on Manning. And Sarkisian’s offense, which relies heavily on play action passing, is harder to execute when there’s no run game for defenders to respect.

The one player who did make things happen with the ball in his hands was Ryan Niblett, who returned two punts for 88 yards, both of which set Texas up with good field position that the Longhorns converted into points. Niblett, who was recruited as a receiver but has also played running back and on special teams in his Texas career, may be someone to work into the game plan more as the Longhorns search for answers.

In the meantime, Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense continues to answer the bell. That unit has carried the Longhorns time and again in the last four years and the veteran presence of guys like linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and safety Michael Taaffe has been invaluable. The defense looks prepared to carry the Longhorns as long as it must.

But Texas needs to find its offensive identity. The last five teams the Longhorns face — Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Arkansas and Texas A&M — all average 30-plus points per game. Sarkisian, who serves as the team’s play caller, needs to find answers and soon, before the preseason No. 1 team is knocked out of CFP contention entirely.