Longhorns position grades: offensive line earns A, Manning gets a B-
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As we begin to catch our breath after a dramatic Texas comeback last night, it’s time to grade the Longhorns performance. The fourth quarter comeback obviously leaves a nice taste in Texas’ mouth, but the miscues early can’t be overlooked. Texas didn’t find themselves in a 20-point deficit just on bad luck but the ability to battle and comeback ultimately is most important.
Here’s how I’d grade the Longhorns performance:
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Quarterback: B-
Arch Manning was absolutely incredible down the stretch of this game. He finished the day 23/37 for 195 passing yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, but he was nearly perfect down the stretch. On the final three drives, he went 13/19 for 158 total yards and a TD. He deserves all the respect in the world for leading this comeback. If you take the early drops away, he would’ve added another 80+ yards and a TD and removed the INT.
All that being said, he left much more yards on the field. He missed Spencer Shannon, Emmett Mosley and Ryan Wingo because he either didn’t see them or hesitated when he did. He needs to be more decisive from the pocket moving forward. Accuracy was hit-or-miss, but if you remove the drops, he’s over 67% completion, which is a good number for Manning. Regardless, the decisiveness and hesitancy needs to be fixed.
Running back: B
Raleek Brown made two massive mistakes: the fumble to open the game and the 3rd down lack of awareness, but outside of that, both he and Smothers were lights out. Smothers was the player of the game for Texas, racking up over 100 total yards and 2 scores on the day. Brown, despite having bad moments, had multiple huge runs in the final few drives to keep the chains moving. Saturday was firm proof of one thing: the upgrades at running back was money well spent.
Wide Receivers: C
This was the most disappointing unit in this game. Every starting WR made massive mistakes that aided Ohio State building its lead. Emmett Mosley failed to make his block on the first play, leading to the Brown fumble. Despite it being a difficult catch, Cam Coleman has to come up with that deep ball to open the game. Finally, Ryan Wingo’s drop in the endzone forced the Longhorns to settle for a FG. Down the stretch, all three made some important catches to save the performance, but this unit has to be better moving forward.
Tight End: A-
I’m not sure if I could be any happier with this unit through two games. Emaree Winston made timely catches, including the massive 4th down conversion. Spencer Shannon also got involved for a catch in this one, but the story is their blocking. This unit is an elite blocking group and it showed up in the run game again yesterday. Losing Nick Townsend to an injury(status unknown) is the only thing dropping this grade down a touch.
Offensive Line: A
There isn’t a unit I’m more impressed with through two weeks than this one. There were very minor run blocking issues but other than that, this unit was downright incredible. Both sacks Ohio State logged seemed to be Arch Manning’s fault more than the OL. More importantly, the run game was working from start to finish, getting very consistent gains every single play. In fact, the OL logged their best run blocking performance in three years, averaging 3.30 OL yards per carry. A really incredible game from the group up front.
Defensive Line: B
It’s hard to have too many issues with this unit's performance. Early, they struggled to get pressure which allowed Julian Sayin to get off to a nice start. However, Colin Simmons and Lance Jackson each logged a sack, not to mention Hero Kanu and Maraad Watson living in the backfield. There were moments where Bo Jackson was able to find run lanes but they were few and far between. Overall, not a dominating performance from the defensive line but a very solid day.
Linebackers: A-
This was the most surprising position group in this game. Justin Cryer is the defensive player of the game. He led the team in tackles, did a great job of communicating throughout the game and was a major factor in the pass rush late. Rasheem Biles had a quieter day, but didn’t make any massive mistakes either. On top of that, Brad Spence made some big plays, including the TFL after the opening fumble. A unit that had many Longhorn fans questioning going into the season seems to be answering those questions.
Secondary: C+
There needs to be an understanding before I explain my grade. When you are playing Jeremiah Smith, it’s like taking the toughest calculus course in college. Tests are graded on a curve. Jeremiah Smith is one of the best WRs in recent college football memory. Texas slowing him down in the first two matchups was great but was unlikely to be replicated a third time.
They did get dominated by No. 4 but that’s not overly surprising. Handling WRs 2-4 the way they did should be complimented. Bo Mascoe and Graceson Littleton were very good, especially Mascoe on Jeremiah Smith in the 4th quarter. Roberson, Phillips and the safeties had bad moments but on the whole, I don’t see it as a disastrous performance from the backend.
Special Teams: B-
It’s difficult to grade special teams because one mistake can force the grade to plummet. Yesterday, Ryan Niblett muffing to end the 3rd quarter was that mistake. Although Kade Phillips recovered the ball, that’s something that can’t happen consistently, which I don’t expect it to. As for the kicking, Septic once again was perfect, hitting 3 XPs and 1 FG. Mac Chuimento got on the field for the first time this season and performed well, punting three times for an average of 43 yards/punt. Overall, this is still a strong unit for the Longhorns, just need to avoid mistakes in the return game.
Coaching: B
This is a difficult grade to give because Sarkisian and company touched every part of the spectrum in this game. The last quarter, by both Sarkisian and Muschamp, was brilliant. However, the first half was filled with coaching errors that put Texas into the hole. To me, the adjustments made in the second half are most important and Texas nailed those. Muschamp’s defense gave up just 3 points in the second half and Sarkisian’s offense led three 12+ play, 70+ yard TD drives to win it. The first half 4th down play call, struggle with Jeremiah Smith and clock management late are fair questions but overall, Steve Sarkisian and his staff won this game for Texas.
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This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Longhorns position grades: offensive line earns A, Manning gets a B-