State of the Program – Texas' offense has mostly met expectations through first eight games
On the latest video episode of On Texas Football’s State of the Program, Inside Texas’s Bobby Burton and Eric Nahlin discuss the seventh-ranked Longhorns’ progress through the first eight games of the 2023 season and grade the offense for meeting its expectations in advance of Saturday’s showdown against No. 25 Kansas State. State of the Program is sponsored by Loewy Law Firm.
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The teams are a part of a five-way tie atop the Big 12 Conference standings, with the league’s top six teams playing each other this weekend.
Nahlin, the publisher of InsideTexas.com, said in some aspects the Longhorns offense is playing better than experts predicted they would after a solid preseason. He wrote about his grades for the website on Tuesday.
“I enjoy writing those articles, not only to gauge where the team is, but also to see where our reporting was right or where our reporting was off a little bit,” Nahlin said “You know why was reporting off or maybe to sometimes pat ourselves on the back a little bit, too.”
Both Burton and Nahlin opined that the Longhorns’ quarterback position, as manned by Quinn Ewers for the first seven games and Maalik Murphy last week against BYU, has met or exceeded expectations.
“The relevant point I was making throughout the whole course of the offseason was that that Quinn was definitely improved, but he was not a finished product – and I think we’ve seen that play out,” Nahlin explained.
“All in all, I think Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has done well to tailor the offense more in line with Quinn strengths and that’s played out on the field. Maybe he hasn’t met everybody’s expectations visa vie but you know everybody develops at their own pace. And I think he’s definitely improved over last year.”
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Nahlin said the Longhorns’ running backs have met preseason expectations and could get better as it gets more healthy. “Texas can win with any of its five running backs,” Nahlin said.
“Jonathon Brooks has absolutely picked up the mantle and run with it so to speak,” Burton added. “But it looks now like Texas may have a healthy running back room, not just with Brooks and CJ Baxter (after dealing with an ankle injury) but now Savion Red and Jaydon Blue got some time and Keilan Robinson showed a little bit against BYU.”
Burton still believes Texas’ wide receiver room is as good as its been in decades even though it hasn’t totally lived up to lofty expectations. He wondered aloud if the wide receivers will flourish more with Murphy, who is taller than Ewers, as the triggerman.
“We haven’t see the consistency from game to game from the wide receivers,” Nahlin said.
The tight ends, led by Ja’Tavion Sanders and Gunner Helm, have played to the par expected despite not being the weapons in the red zone they were projected to be.
You have to go watch the video for the specifics behind the offensive grades. There’s plenty more to glean, so go check it out in its entirety.
