A positional tweak ignites the Texas offensive line, safeguarding Arch Manning and fueling explosive offensive success in a dominant home victory.
Home sweet home.
After a challenging road gauntlet that saw nail-biting finishers, volatile offensive play and an upsetting loss to a team that fired its head coach just two weeks later, the Texas Longhorns finally returned to Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.
And offensively, it was almost everything Texas fans could’ve wanted. Explosive plays, an efficient and accurate Arch Manning and a run game that actually made the difference at moments, you name it. But perhaps the cherry top–or the reason these things could’ve happened at all–an offensive line that could actually protect and disrupt.
Having not played a game since the Red River Rivalry, center Cole Hutson made his return. But it wasn’t at the center. Steve Sarkisian and the Texas coaching staff had made the decision to slide him over to left guard and keep his backup, Connor Robertson, at center. That one little tweak seemed to work wonders.
For the first time all season, Texas finished an SEC game without allowing a single sack. With Arch Manning coming off a concussion, it seemed as vital as ever to protect him. And thanks to the offensive line’s renewed cohesion, Manning looked comfortable in the pocket, delivering throws with confidence and rhythm.
"I thought they were very effective. I thought Arch, this was the best protection he's gotten all year. And that's a credit to everybody,” Sarkisian said. “And I thought Arch, to his credit, helped them. You know, we did some things in protection to pick some things up, to allow us to throw it down the field. But, you know, it allowed him to get through reads. You know, when you can get to your second, third reads in a progression, that means your protection is pretty good”
A decision that’s been a few weeks in the making, Sarkisian elaborated on what made Texas pull the trigger on the position swap.
"I think when you just look at, how do you get our best five guys out there, and when you look at the way Connor has played. When Connor's played center for us, he's played well. And Cole's history and experience for us has been at guard. And so if that was going to be our best five for this game, it felt like that was the right move to make with Cole coming back off the injury, putting him a guard, leaving Connor at center," Sarkisian said. That's a lot more experience. Connor's been in the program a long time. He knows our calls. He knows what to do. Putting Cole back at guard, it's his kind of natural position, in essence.”
Texas will now enter a bye week before traveling up to Athens to take on the always dangerous defense of the Georgia Bulldogs. The good news is the timing couldn’t be better, the offense line has finally begun to find it identity–establishing consistency in protection, opening up the run game and giving Arch Manning the time and confidence to operate efficiently from the pocket.