The sky appears to be falling in Austin, Texas, with the Longhorns having suffered back-to-back losses. With Arch Manning being the starting quarterback for a Texas offense that ranks in the bottom half of the league, many are pointing at him as the lead culprit of the messy situation, but one former head coach is pointing the blame elsewhere.
Just two weeks ago, Texas was the No. 1 team in the country and appeared to be a real threat to win a national title. Now, the Longhorns are just one loss away from virtually being eliminated from College Football Playoff contention, but the big picture of it all is that head coach Steve Sarkisian has simply not pushed Manning to take a step in the right direction.
To put it simply, Manning has been average so far this season. He’s 10th among SEC quarterbacks in completion percentage (63.9), 12th in passing yards (1,295), and ninth in touchdown passes (11). He has not been able to elevate his team’s offense as much as many expected him to in what is now his fourth year in Austin.
In Brian Kelly’s opinion, the offensive struggles seen at Texas this season fall on the shoulders of the man who calls the plays, Sarkisian.
“I think it’s on the play caller,” Kelly told Danny Kanell on SiriusXM on Tuesday. “I think the play caller takes a lot of the responsibility. Look, he’s your quarterback. They’re not going back. I mean, they’re not going to bench him unless there’s just a total meltdown.”
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Kelly, like the majority of others in and around college football, complimented Sarkisian’s offensive mind, but claimed it may be time to make the game plan a bit simpler for Manning moving forward.
“Coach Sarkisian is an outstanding play caller. He understands the game. He’s proven, seasoned, but sometimes there has to be that sit-down conversation,” Kelly continued.
“Say, ‘Look, we’re going to do what you can do and execute.’ And to your point, Danny, this is about accuracy and higher completion percentage. If we can run the ball with more effectiveness, if you add those two things to the Texas offense, they’re going to win the rest of their football games.”
Manning was only asked to throw the football 20 times during Texas’ loss at home to Florida a week ago. He completed 14 of his passes, threw for one score, and didn’t throw an interception in his team’s 27-24 loss.
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As Kelly alluded to, the Longhorns playing a more complementary style of offense could greatly benefit Manning. Texas rushed for just 99 yards against the Gators.
On the flip side of Kelly’s opinion, if the recipe for success six games into the season is to dumb down the offense for Manning, the Longhorns could be in for a long second half of the year.
Texas takes on No. 7 Ole Miss this upcoming Saturday at home, with road contests against Missouri and LSU still looming as well.