No. 1 Texas 51, ULM 3: Five observations and Sunday chat

Longhorns steamroll the Warhawks in Austin.

Business was handled in Austin on Saturday night.

I will spare you the long wind up on this one. The No. 1 Texas Longhorns did exactly what they were expected to do in this matchup — Took control early and never conceded an inch to the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in the 51-3 win at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

It wasn’t the cleanest played game, but like I said last week it will give the Texas coaching staff something to coach the team up on as they enter conference play. The tune-up games are now behind them and now its time to begin navigating the road that leads to Atlanta.

Lets get to the observations from Saturday’s dismantling of ULM.

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Some boom and some bust for Arch Manning in his first start

One thing you can say about Arch is that he ain’t afraid to cut it loose and let it fly down the field. For better or for worse he is going to push the ball down the field and we definitely got to see both sides of the coin on Saturday night.

While Arch was relentless about attacking down the field and made some big plays, he also was prone to holding the ball a little longer then he should and he put it in jeopardy on multiple occasions, with two interceptions the result. Manning threw his first pick on the opening drive in the game when he threw it into triple coverage. The other came later as a result of a pass with too much heat on it that went off the hands of Jaydon Blue and landed in the hands of a ULM safety. Some may argue Blue should have caught it, but Arch was definitely trying to thread the needle a bit there.

You could tell Steve Sarkisian was frustrated at halftime with some of the inconsistent play from his quarterback, so you know he is going to be coaching him up hard heading into next week. Manning has certainly shown the upside that excites everyone, but he also showed his youth and inexperience on Saturday during stretches of play.

Manning finished the night 15-of-29 passing for 258 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in his first start as a Longhorn.

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Jaydon Blue looked good and healthy

No. 23 is back and he had himself a full workload on Saturday night to get himself ready for conference play. The expectations for Blue went even higher with the injury to Cedric Baxter during camp and on Saturday he looked every bit of the part of a true RB1 against the Warhawks.

Blue got nicked up against Michigan and sat out last week as a precaution. He was fed the rock 25 times on the ground for 124 yards and three touchdowns, while also being targeted several times through the air and reeling in another score in the red zone.

Blue looks primed and ready for conference play. He has a chance to have a monster game against Mississippi State next week, who has looked miserable on defense.

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The defense was smothering once again

Talk about setting the tone early — Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. looked like he had himself a pick six early in the game and then he later followed it up by wrangling General Booty for a sack. Hill may have had some of the biggest splash plays of the night, but the entire Texas defense once again kicked ass and took names against ULM.

The ULM offense struggled mightily to sustain a drive all night long, including when Texas was heavily rotating in reserves in the second half. The Warhawks offense only mustered 111 yards of total offense with 54 coming through the air and 57 coming on the ground. That comes out to 2.2 yards per play for those keeping score at home. They were also a miserable 3-of-13 on money downs and turned the ball over twice.

The Texas defense also put points on the board on Saturday.

Don’t look now, but linebacker Liona Lefau is looking like a stud. Every time 18 gets into the game you see him around the football. I loved him as a recruit and he is looking like he will log plenty of snaps this year before taking over full-time next year. The idea of potentially having Hill and Lefau on the field at the same time next year should make your pants tight. Metaphorically of course.

The Texas defense has only surrendered two touchdowns through four games. They have only surrendered 22 points heading into SEC play. They play hard from the opening kick until triple zeroes hit the clock. You can tell they are playing to a standard each week and that is exactly how it should be.

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Texas will enter SEC play with a pretty clean bill of health

We already covered Blue looking healthy, but in this section I want to touch on the overall health of the team through four games. Texas was unlucky during camp with the injuries to Baxter and Christian Clark, but so far through the first four weeks they have been fairly fortunate on the injury front.

The outlook on starting quarterback Quinn Ewers appears to be promising, as Sarkisian said he has progressed considerably over the course of the week. The expectation is that he will be ready to rock and roll when Texas goes to Dallas to face off with Oklahoma, but there could be a chance we see him next week against Mississippi State barring any kind of setbacks. Ewers may have not been out there on Saturday, but I loved how he was locked in throughout the game and was in the middle of the huddle getting the team fired up for the fourth quarter.

Ewers has definitely come into his own from a leadership standpoint, so this was pretty cool to see. He always seemed to be more quiet and reserved the first couple of years, and now you see him being more animated and outspoken.

Speaking of injuries, wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. went into the locker room during the first half. Sarkisian said he left the game with a hip pointer and hopes he can return soon. We also didn’t see running back Quintrevion Wisner on Saturday after he had a light workload against UTSA. Hopefully it was a workload management situation for Wisner with Blue back on the field on Saturday.

The SEC conference grind is a real thing, so you want to be as healthy as possible heading into it. The Longhorns appear fine in that regard heading into next week.

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Texas once again executed well on money downs and in the red zone

Converting on money downs and in the red zone is the name of the game and once again the Longhorns offense was fantastic in both categories.

Texas was 8-of15 on money downs (7-of-13 on third and 1-of-2 on fourth) while being a perfect 7-of-7 in the red zone. You will take those kind of results week in and out if you are Sarkisian and the offensive brain trust.

The Texas offense had their fair share of frustrations in the red zone in 2023, but they have firmly flipped the script in that regard in 2024. We will see if those results carry over into conference play, but so far they have been fantastic about finishing drives and getting points once they enter the red area.

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The non-conference slate is officially behind us. It is time to hit the teeth of the schedule and start playing some big boy football against SEC opponents.

Texas looks ready to rock and roll and will head into next weekly with the number one ranking as they play host to the Bulldogs in Austin for their SEC opener.

You know the drill. The 24-hour rule is now in effect. Celebrate accordingly, because it about time to play some SEC football, folks.