⚡ CFB Dashboard

First things first on Monday: The sign of a well-coached team is week-to-week improvement. The Longhorns' defense is definitely improving from week-to-week - going from giving up 50% of third-down conversions (14-of-28) against Texas State and Ohio State to just 5-of-28 (17.9%) the last two games against UTSA and Tennessee. The Texas offense and special teams, however, appear to be regressing. After averaging 4.6 yards per carry on three straight touchdown drives to end the Longhorns' 24-23 comeback win against Ohio State, Texas averaged 1.6 yards per carry against Tennessee. And the Longhorns could muster only a three-and-out for minus-11 yards when getting the ball with 4:50 left while holding a 20-10 lead. That resulted in the Vols going on a 10-play, 80-yard TD drive in 4:07, cutting Texas' lead to 20-17, and then recovering an onside kick and throwing into the end zone on the game's final play. "We've got new pieces everywhere," said Ryan Wingo, who led Texas with six catches for 74 yards on Saturday. "… We're getting better as we go on. Everybody's just kind of meshing together, so we'll be good." Arch Manning has now thrown three illegal forward passes in the last two games after never throwing one in his college career. He was sacked six times on Saturday, more sacks than Texas allowed the first three games (four). There was no Hollywood Smothers on Saturday, so now the Longhorns' leading rusher has two more weeks to continue recovering from an ankle injury suffered last week. The marquee matchup in the Red River Shootout will be Texas' offense against an OU defense that ranks No. 3 nationally in passing yards allowed (122.5), No. 4 in third-down conversions allowed (23.1%) and No. 2 in red-zone defense (.600). Steve Sarkisian took offense at an article in The Athletic quoting an anonymous coach who called Texas "soft everywhere." "I think eight [Tennessee] guys got carted off," Sarkisian said. "So I'm not sure who wrote the article today and what coach said we weren't a physical football team. May want to write another article." There's no doubt the Texas defense is physical. The Texas defense is carrying the team right now. But the bottom line is Texas' offense needs to be more physical to become more consistent. The offensive line needs better communication to protect Arch Manning and open holes in the running game. There needs to be week-to-week improvement, because the Texas defense can't carry the load all season - not with teams like Florida and Ole Miss looming.