Coming into the 2025 season as the preseason No. 1 team, the Texas Longhorns and coach Steve Sarkisian have really dropped the hype ball. According to preseason whispers and their track record (back-to-back playoff semifinals), the Longhorns were supposed to be unapologetic national title contenders, especially with Arch Manning stepping into his first year as the full-time starter.

However, after a grievous loss to Florida and a rough overtime win against Kentucky, people are starting to question Steve Sarkisian’s biggest asset: his play-calling. And now, an analyst is weighing in with his opinion. Well, the Longhorns are now 5-2 and barely hanging on in the AP Top 25. So, is it about time for Steve Sarkisian to give up play-calling duties? Or is the Longhorns’ offense just struggling because of a new set of players, particularly on the offensive line?

On October 25th, On3’s J.D. Pickell hopped onto X and gave his take on Sarkisian and Texas’ offensive problems. J.D. started off hot, questioning, “I make sure I got this right here on the whole Steve Sarkeesian play-calling conversation — since Sark has been at Texas, he’s had a top-25 offense in scoring nearly every single year. But because this year hasn’t been that awesome so far, we’re like, hey, should Sark give up the play-calling?”

Through mid-October, the Longhorns’ offense under Sarkisian has gone from fire to straight-up trash, with the stats to prove it. The offensive downfall has to be called out, so let’s go band-for-band with their 2024 campaign. The squad’s points per game dropped from 33.0 to just 26.7, putting them around 80th in the country. Their total offense also took a nosedive, from 21st to 81st nationally.

Another glaring issue? Third downs and the red zone. This is where fans started throwing haymakers at Sarkisian’s play-calling. The third-down conversion rate is a nightmare at 38.1% (126th nationally), and they’re completely blowing it in the red zone, scoring touchdowns on just 60% of trips — 130th in the nation.

The actual root cause of these problems? Their Texas offensive line. The Longhorns lost four linemen to the draft, and that basically wrecked the whole offense. The O-line is getting absolutely clobbered as they’re allowing pressure on 42.4% of dropbacks. That’s almost half! No wonder Arch Manning’s pocket presence looks so bad.

J.D. Pickell further asked whether it’s Steve Sarkisian’s play-calling or it is just the offensive line and year 1 QB’s fault?: “Nick Saban wanted him to call plays. The NFL wanted him to call plays. But because we got a brand new offensive line and a first year starting quarterback who’s playing like a first year starting quarterback, we’re questioning if sark’s the problem that right?”

Nick Saban literally convinced Sark to come back to Alabama in 2019 to call plays, and he went on to win a natty with that 2020 squad. Blaming Saban’s certified QB guru for his players’ poor performance is wild. And asking Steve Sarkisian to give up play-calling, despite having top-five recruiting classes since 2021, is about as disrespectful as it gets. Perhaps the Longhorns should’ve been a bit nicer to Quinn Ewers.

Texas fans should apologize for Quinn Ewers

When Quinn Ewers decided to move to the NFL, the Longhorns fans back-flipped and expected big things out of Arch Manning, but now, fast forward to week 8, many wish Ewers were still the starter, and he never left for the NFL. The stats say it all. After just seven games, Manning has been hit 60 times by defenders, while Ewers took that many hits only after a full 15-game season. It’s clear Ewers was better at avoiding pressure and reading defenses.

Manning has taken some brutal hits this year. In the game against Kentucky, a defense that had only seven sacks all season managed to sack him three times and hit him eight more. One hard hit even caused Manning’s leg to kick up and hit the defender’s helmet. Former Heisman winner Matt Leinart said, “I wonder if he’s hurt at all… it didn’t look right a couple of weeks in a row there.” Surprisingly, Manning still hasn’t appeared on the injury report.

Also, the offensive line hasn’t protected Manning well. He’s already been sacked 13 times. Still, Sarkisian defends his young QB, saying he just needs more time to grow. But many fans are losing patience.