← On Texas Football
On Texas Football
“We Should Be Playing for Championships” | Biggest Takeaways From SEC Media Days | Texas Football
00:31:33
Jeff Howe, Bobby Burton, CJ Vogel and Hank South reveal their biggest Texas takeaways from SEC Media Days. The panel discusses Steve Sarkisian’s confidence in what may be the most talented roster he has assembled in Austin, the significance of the...
Loading summary
Transcript62 lines
- [00:01]
Jeff Howe
Over 60 years ago, the credit union
- [00:03]
Jeff Howell
was created not for profit, but for better reasons.
- [00:06]
Jeff Howe
For living, for homes, for futures.
- [00:10]
Jeff Howell
The credit union for you, not profit.
- [00:14]
Jeff Howe
Credit unions in the Republic of Ireland are regulated by the Central bank of Ireland.
- [00:20]
CJ Vogel
The car is beautiful. Where did you end up going for it? This exclusive place that dad has connections with. They have more cars for more dealerships than like anywhere else. You have to put me in touch. What's it called? It's Dune Dial. Where? Dune Dial. There's an accent on the E. Do you mean. Yes, I got it on. Done deal cars. Lift please. You going past Kimage? Oh, Kimmage. No. Done deal cars. You couldn't possibly go anywhere else. Allergies with Telfast allergy. They won't stop me. For fast acting 24 hour relief, take
- [00:57]
Jeff Howell
Telfast Allergy from pharmacies nationwide.
- [01:01]
CJ Vogel
Contains fexofenadine suitable for age 12 years and over.
- [01:04]
Jeff Howell
Always read the label.
- [01:06]
CJ Vogel
See more@telfast IE brought to you by Clonmel Healthcare.
- [01:10]
Jeff Howell
What is our biggest Texas related takeaway from SEC media days? We'll discuss that on this latest edition of On Texas Football, brought to you by Prize Picks. I am Jeff Howe. It is time for the On Texas Football Weekly sideline debate. I'm joined by our panelists for this week. It is Bobby Burton, CJ Vogel and Hank South. Guys, we were all down in Tampa for SEC media days. Texas was the very last team to go. So a compressed time with the Longhorns, a lot to digest. But now that we've kind of been able to to digest it. Hank, I'll start with you. What is your biggest takeaway from SEC media days? After hearing from Sark Archman and Trevor Goosby, Colin Simmons, what was your biggest takeaway?
- [01:51]
Jeff Howe
My biggest takeaway is the fact that this team is is ready to go fully injury wise. Outside of Caden Shearer who is the late AD on offensive line who had a spring injury, it's going to sideline him. Everybody's ready to go and you think yeah, you know, kind of what is expected. But then you look at who that what that all means. Jonah Williams, Justice Terry, Andre Kojo for offensive line depth. Just a plethora of guys that were banged up. We saw a lot of guys sidelined in the spring or limited in the spring. Now you get here to fall. That's important to have all those guys to be able to go through the entirety of fall camp. Assuming, you know, I'm sure they're going to limit guys at some extent but be able to go full go be ready for September 5th against Texas State. That's a really big deal to go in healthy. Texas has been plagued with injuries here and there throughout the past two preseasons. Whether running back in 2024, offensive line last fall, to have everybody healthy, ready to go ahead, you know, a month out, a little bit over a month out from the season, I think that's a really big deal and kind of an underrated takeaway from, from everything he said that, that this is a healthy team and that's good news for Texas.
- [02:57]
Jeff Howell
Bobby, I want to get your take on the injury, the health situation really quick because we've seen years where, you know, guys will have the, the post bowl surgery, maybe even post spring surgery, and there's a setback or you know, in the case of C.J. baxter's knee, it just lingered a lot longer than they thought. But everything this year has kind of been on the timeline. Sarkis talked about, whether it's been Justice Terry, Xavier Philson, me. Hank mentioned Jonas, Hank mentioned Jonah Williams. You know, Bobby, I, I like the fact that Texas does has that have everybody healthy, but I think it speaks to the job you're training, your medical staff have done to make sure that everything stays on course and that there have been no setbacks.
- [03:34]
Bobby Burton
Yeah, they're, they're top shelf. I mean, I think that that's one of the things that Sark has proven. He treats injuries very judiciously, I think is the best way to put it. I mean, he's, he's deliberate about what he wants to do. He sticks to a timeline. If they come back early, that's great. I, I think the only one, maybe they've misplayed and maybe it's not them misplaying. It was Cedric Baxter's injury and getting him to back too soon. And maybe he just never got back is the difference because it was such a severe injury. So in that vantage, from that vantage point, he just never got all the way back and, and became a different back as a, a result of that. But I think, I think of guys that they really took care of. Adnai Mitchell had had a sprain. Isaiah Bond had an ankle sprain. Talk about how they switched out Kelvin Banks and Cam Williams at times and in the 24 playoffs. My thought process, I guess is that he has done, he and the training staff have done a nice job of getting guys ready. I, I would say this to y'.
- [04:41]
Prize Picks Sponsor/Ad
All.
- [04:41]
Bobby Burton
I mean, who is the most important guy that got ready? Is it Xavier Filsamy? Is it Justice Terry? Is it Andro Andre Kojo, because we haven't talked about him really playing a role here, but Sark mentioned him at the presser in. In. In Tampa. So it's a. It's an interesting group. And to your point, Jeff, they got them ready when it's important. Not necessarily in the spring when it's not as important, but in the fall, they're getting them ready.
- [05:11]
Jeff Howell
Cj, I'll go to you for your takeaway from Meaty days. I don't know if it's in the injury realm or not. You and I've talked a ton on the channel about safety. I know you talked about safety. Just the depth concerns there. So, cg, I don't know if it's safety still or injuries, but what was your main takeaway from SEC media day?
- [05:27]
CJ Vogel
The car is beautiful. Where did you end up going for it? This exclusive place that dad has connections with. They have more cars for more dealerships than like anywhere else. You have to put me in touch. What's it called? It's Dune Dial.
- [05:41]
Bobby Burton
Where?
- [05:42]
CJ Vogel
Dune Dial. There's an accent on the E. Do you mean. Yes. I got it on. Done deal cars. Lift, please. You going past Kimage? Oh, Kimage. No. Done deal cars. You couldn't possibly go anywhere else.
- [05:58]
Hank South
A bit of a. A boring takeaway from me, but it's just the fact that, look, there's no shying away from the fact how talented this team is. You know, Sark said it in a number of ways. It's versatile, it's balanced, you know, whatever it is, offense, defense, special teams. He acknowledged how much talent is on this team. And with that, what are the standards for this season? What are the expectations for this season? It's to win a lot of football games. That's at the top of his mind right now. And, you know, I think obviously one of the big takeaways from everybody else outside of the Texas world is how did Texas acquire this talent? How did they build this roster? Through guys leaving in the portal, guys coming into Texas from the portal. Obviously, high school is going to be. Be a big piece, and, well, of course, you're still looking to add a guy that's played 48 games and 23 career starts coming back from the NFL. Right. So there's different avenues in which Texas has found ways to build its roster. But the point is this. Sark knows this team is talented. It's probably the most talented team he's had at the University of Texas. And with that, again, come very high, lofty expectations that all four of us here on this panel will probably agree includes a deep playoff run in the college football playoffs. So for me, knowing Sark knows what he has, what he's working with, that's a confident coach that we saw up there on Thursday afternoon talking about his roster, talking about what he expects from this team. That's a guy that I think knows he has a team that can win it all. It's up to him to find ways to piece it together and put them in the best positions possible to get that done.
- [07:36]
Jeff Howell
Hank, I think you and Jerry Hamilton and I were talking about this in, I think in that electronic media room at SEC media days. I think it was before we heard from Sark and we can put a lot of superlatives on this team. Hank, is this the fastest team Sark has had? We know he values speed. It's a, he put a premium on it. Whether they're recruiting high school, the portal. Can we, can we say this is the fastest team Sarkis had a Texas at this point.
- [08:01]
Jeff Howe
I, I wouldn't argue it. You know, you, you look at all the off season, everything they're putting into off season, strength and conditioning and what we're hearing, the feedback, I mean we're hearing about Cohen Brown being one of the fastest players and you look at the guys, they add, they prioritize speed. I think the three, you know, speed on the perimeter, need to have a pass rush. You'd be tough in the trenches. I mean that's what they look for on the recruiting trail. And you know, I, I would be hard pressed to, to name a faster team. But then, you know, it's kind of always surprises you a little bit. You, you look at the NFL combine and Matthew Golden's out there, you know, run low four threes, you know, Isaiah Bomb we knew was fast. But Adonai Mitchell running in the four threes, it always kind of surprises you and it's just a, you know, it's, it's a testament to that strength and conditioning work with Tory Becton and, and what they're able to do with those guys, but I, I, it's certainly one of them. Absolutely. I, I'd be hard pressed to argue against it.
- [08:55]
Jeff Howell
Yeah, there was a time where Texas guys would go to the combine and you kind of, kind of let you wanting more. That hasn't been the case the last few years under Sark. In some cases, the times are a lot better. Some surprising times. Hank, as you said, Bobby, what was your, I know you did a lot of interviews on digital drive and you were all over the place down in Tampa. But once the dust settled on Thursday, what was your biggest takeaway from Texas?
- [09:19]
Bobby Burton
I think I'm gonna follow CJ in somewhat, and I'll add to it briefly, CJ Mentioned confidence and the standard, those sorts of words. Along with Sark admitting that the talent level is extraordinarily high in Austin. I. I want to go one step further. They're not backing down from it. Like, they're, you know, C.J. used the word confidence. Yeah, it shows some confidence. But they're admitting right now that they have this talent. They're admitting that those are the expectations. And that's a different kind of thought process, in my opinion, than just saying, oh, yeah, we're okay. Yeah, we're talented, but we still got work to do. We gotta prove it. And that's. That's the sense I got from Sark when I asked him this very question. I mean, you are extremely talented. You know, what is your thought process? And, and he came back and, and said that, look, we understand these are the expectations. Now we just got to go do it. And I think that not backing down from those expectations, it doesn't mean you're necessarily going to meet them, but it certainly means you're aware of them and you're trying to hold yourself to that standard each and every day. And so I, from. From my vantage point, it was the idea not only that they're talented and have. Have this, the pieces of the puzzle, it's that they're accepting of the fact that they're talented. They're. They're not going to be just happy to be here and be in games and compete for a championship. They want to win one. And I think that was my main takeaway.
- [11:00]
Jeff Howell
C.J. i'll give my takeaway here in. In just a minute, but, C.J. was there a question that you went into? SEC, man. And I know, you know, hey, we're not going to get, you know, full answers. And, and, you know, not everything's going to be exactly how we want it. Cj, Was there a question you had about this team that you left Tampa feeling like you got it answered?
- [11:23]
Hank South
You know, it's interesting having, you know, obviously just heard talk at the Texas High School Coaches Association. I felt like it would be a little bit of what we had just heard in. In Houston.
- [11:31]
Bobby Burton
Right.
- [11:32]
Hank South
A little bit of a repeat. But, you know, I. I mentioned it, Bobby mentioned it. It's just that kind of just upfront honesty that we're a good football team. There's no hiding there's. No beating around the bush. And that's something that, I don't know. You hear often from coaches, right? Most coaches try to maybe downplay maybe, you know, maybe just say, hey, I feel confident. Or we feel good about what we got, sark said. Quite a way, you know, right away we should be playing for championships. And what did I not know coming in? Look, safety, offensive line. But to hear from Sark that this is a team that he feels great about, that this staff feels great about, I don't know if there's anything unknown. You know, the one thing that we've talked about at length behind the scenes, Jeff, is well, Sark has come out and said several times now why he made the switch to Will Muschamp to be his defensive coordinator. We know that now. We know exactly what that reason is now. And that's just he wants to feel more in tune with the offense if that pays off in any point this year. Again, with this talent, there's no reason for Texas to not be a Final Four, Final Two team in the country.
- [12:42]
Prize Picks Sponsor/Ad
You know, we're always looking for ways to make watching games a little more fun. And that's exactly why we love Prize Picks. It's America's number one sports pick app, and honestly, it's about as simple as it gets for Player Picks. All you do is just choose more or less on a few player stats and then you lock in your lineup. That's it. And if you're someone who likes picking teams instead of individual players, Prize Picks has you covered there as well. You can now pick the winner, the spread, or the total on games and even fights. And Prize Picks is available in most states, including California, Florida, and right here in the great state of Texas. So chances are you can jump in today. And one of my favorite features is that you can follow users on the app. If you like the picks they're making, you can tell them with one click. And of course you can follow your friends picks as well. And the best part is if you've never tried Prize Picks before, they have a new promo for you. Play your first $5 lineup and if you win, they're going to give you $150 in bonus lineups. Just make sure that you use code HMA when you sign up. They actually just updated this offer, so there's never been a better time to get started. And if you want what I'm going with today, I got Pirates pitcher Jared Jones to have more than three and a half strikeouts along with brewers pitcher Shane Grohan to have less than five and a half. So download the Prize picks app Today, use code HMA and then again when you play the first five five dollar lineup, if you win, you'll get $150 in bonus lineups. That's prize picks, code HMA. And of course, as always, play smart, play responsibly, play prize picks.
- [14:17]
Jeff Howell
Bobby, we've had a lot of discussions about physicality improving in the run game, you know, situational football, things like that. Anything you heard in Tampa, Bobby, that makes you feel like this offensive line will at least be markedly improved from last season and the Texas can get more consistency running the football because I know that's a question we get asked a lot here on the channel and over@ontexasfootball.com is our take on will Texas have the kind of running game Sark once this year.
- [14:47]
Bobby Burton
So running game is different for me than will they have the offensive line play they need. And I'll, I'll say this, I mean, one of the things that you want in the SEC is you want at least a stalemate. You don't want the opposing defensive line to beat the you know what out of you, even though you know that most SEC defensive lines are going to have at least three NFL players on it. I mean every single one of them, right? And defense is get some advantages over offense. They can use their hands differently. I mean, so my thought process here is, first of all, I want Texas to at least stalemate defensive lines this year. Don't, don't take me away from getting overwhelmed like they were so much of last year straight to domination the next year. I would love for that to be the case, but I think those aren't unreasonable expectations. Could they dominate a couple of teams here and there? Sure. But what I'm really looking for is just incremental improvement year over year. I'm not looking for them to all of a sudden be, you know, the Washington Redskins with John Riggins at running, you know, it's just not what I'm thinking. And so when you talk about physicality, it's different for me at the offensive line position. Jeff, situational football, third and one. Are you running the ball? You play action pass, right. I think you have to do both in this league no matter who your offensive line is. I think the defensive lines are. So I'm a little bit different. I do think they have to match the physicality. Like I said, stalemate. And that will open up some run games that are run game situations that Sark has kind of dialed up. But this idea that, that, that SEC offensive lines are going to go out there and dominate other teams, very, very rare. Very, very rare. And I, so I'm, I'm not there. I do think they'll be better talking with Trevor Goosby in person. I think that he likes the depth of the offensive line a lot. And I also think he's really high on the fact that he, he guy doesn't get enough credit and enough talk, talked enough about here because we always focus on Melvin Cianni coming in. But he talked really highly of Brandon Baker. I, I thought that was maybe something people needed to know from Trevor Goosby coming out of that.
- [17:12]
Jeff Howell
Yeah, I also took away from Goosby. When you talk about the run game, it's more than just the offensive line. He talked about the impact Steve Casula, coming over from the Michigan staff, has had on the tight end room in the run game. So that factors into it. C.J. i, I want to get your take on this on Bobby's point, because this isn't necessarily it's Texas adjacent, but Pete Golding was asked a question about the run game in the SEC because there were a lot of teams, Ole Miss was one of the few teams last year that probably met or exceeded expectations running the football. Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas. There were some really bad run games in the league. And Pete Golding made a point. C.J. that we've thought about. But when he said it out loud, it kind of clicked for me. Based on some conversations we had at the OTF frat house. He said, hey, look, the way rosters are constructed now and with nil, teams are putting more resources into making sure you've got really impactful interior defensive linemen. You're typically not going to put those kind of resources into your interior offensive lineman and you got to spread that money out over more guys. Pete Golding said straight up, I don't think you're going to have dominant SEC offensive lines anymore. And to Bobby's point, everybody now wants to make sure that they've got guys that can win at the point of attack on the interior defensive line. My CJ I just want to get your take on that.
- [18:27]
Hank South
Yeah, well, true. Look, you still need to run the football effectively and teams have found ways to do that. Now we've seen. And Jeff, you mentioned three teams. I'll add LSU into the mix. They did not run the football well, just like Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, and you know, several of those teams made the College Football Playoff. But if you want to win a national championship, you got to look at teams that do run the football well, right? Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Indiana, all teams that have played in college football, national championships over the last two years have been able to do that effectively. But what have they all had, right? It's talent at the running back position as well. And I think I go back to a quote of what Sark said a year ago in the middle of the season. He said, look, we're not running the ball well. Is that on the offensive line?
- [19:07]
Bobby Burton
Probably.
- [19:07]
Hank South
But also we need to watch the tape and see if our running backs are hitting the hole at the right time, if they're reading gaps, if they're reading defenses the way that they need to be. And that kind of said the quiet part out loud to me. A year ago, Sark didn't like what he had in the running back room. Not just did it limit him what he could call offensively, but probably left a lot of yards on the table when it came to just the three, the five, the seven yard runs that don't seem highlight worthy at the time, but certainly put you in better positions to execute drives or put yourself in the scoring position. So that's something that I look back on. But throughout it all, look, Texas has talent on the offensive line. They have talent in the running back room. This running game should be improved. It should be. And I know I sound like a broken record given what happened on the field a year ago, but the talent is there for Texas to be successful in both the passing and running games this year in 2026. Now it's up to the execution, the, the, the game planning everything that goes into what the coaches put on the field or you know, essentially behind the scenes and practice, etc, Play calling too.
- [20:16]
CJ Vogel
The car is beautiful. Where did you end up going for it? This exclusive place that dad has connections with. They have more cars for more dealerships than like anywhere else. You have to put me in touch. What's it called? It's Dune Dial.
- [20:29]
Jeff Howe
Where?
- [20:31]
CJ Vogel
Dune Dial. There's an accent on the E. Do you mean. Yes, I got it undone. Deal cars. Lift please. You going past Kimaris? Oh, Kimmage. No, Done deal cars. You couldn't possibly go anywhere else.
- [20:47]
Jeff Howell
That is a really big part of it. And that takes me to my takeaway. And cj, you know, to your point there and Bobby, you mentioned play calling. I've said it all along. If Texas isn't back in the College Football playoff, if the win total isn't where it needs to be, if the expectations aren't met, it's not going to be because this team lacks talent or their talent efficient in areas. It's going to be because of the margins and being buttoned up. And Hank, you actually spent some time with the Alabama players on penalties because Alabama had one of those turnarounds. Kaylin DeBoer's first year, they were one of the worst in the country in terms of penalties. They were much better last year and that's how they were able to overcome a lot of their deficiencies and get to the playoff because they were just a little more buttoned up. We all know the what with Texas and penalties. I mean, last year you're, you're 134 in the country in penalties per game. You're 132 in penalty yards per game. But what are you doing to remedy it? Sark loves saying, hey, you get what you emphasize. Clearly they haven't emphasized it enough because it's been getting progressively worse. But hearing him talk about, you know, Tory Beckton handling some of that discipline in the weight room, when guys step out of line, that's kind of where it starts. If a guy gets penalized in practice, they're not just punishing that guy, you're punishing the whole position group. And Sark feels like that's made an impact on guys. It's helped people become more accountable. But Hank, I want to go to you on this because we know the penalty issue needs to get better. Do you get any insight from the Alabama crew that was there on what they did to get it turned around and how Texas can maybe implement some of that or how Texas can mirror
- [22:19]
Jeff Howe
that kind of turnaround? Yeah, yeah. Each player I asked has Bray Hubbard, Ryan Williams and, and Xavian Brown. And each of them said just putting an emphasis on it obviously. But Bray Hubbard actually had the most interesting answer I thought and that was working with David Blue, who's their strength and cond at Alabama on still doing little things correctly. When you're exhausted or out of breath after conditioning and you know, trying to put that on you when you're really stressed out or like, you know, the stress is high and still making sure you're executing and you know, he said he kind of compared it to a game where, you know, and Sharks have the same kind of stuff like if, if the defense, you know, draws a penalty on pass interference, it affects the whole defense. And so it's really about, you know, putting an emphasis on really making sure you're doing the, the fine tuned details while you're exhausted. And Sark noted that too. And I was kind of surprised the way Stark said it because, you know, you think about an off season workout and you know, you know, if someone's penalized, you know, or does something wrong, you know, they're the only ones punished. And he talked about how, you know, if you jump off sides, the whole team's punished and so therefore they all need to serve the punishment, which you would think, you know, maybe you do already. But he said they've put that more into the program this fall where if there's one mess up, everyone serves that mess up, not just the person doing it, because as a team, he's as the ultimate team sport. So, you know, everyone is going to, to serve the consequence. So it's that. And he, I, what I thought was interesting with what he said. He said that's the first thing he addressed when they, the team came back together in January. He said he's more bullish on that stat. He said, you know, it's not really going to correlate wins and losses when you, when you look at an individual box score, but in the totality of it all, obviously if you're a more disciplined team, you're going to, to win more games. And I look back at the past five national champions. The lowest team to win a national championship, they were in the penalty yardage rankings was Georgia at 39. Everybody else was top 20 in the country. Indiana last season was number two. So I, I think it does correlate to, you know, to ultimate success. They need to get that number up into the top 20, top 30 if they want to go all the way.
- [24:22]
Hank South
That's a hundred, 100 spot jump for Texas from a year ago.
- [24:28]
Jeff Howell
Yeah, we, we know it was, it was bad. And Sark said, you know, he's been blunt about it in the off season. Said we're a more disciplined team than we showed last year, but we didn't play like it and we got to improve. And Bobby, if they're to hear Sark talked about how they've emphasized made me feel confident like we will see, I don't know if we'll see Texas finish in the top 10 or like Indiana last year, the top five in the country. If we'll see that kind of turn to CJ's point, like a hundred spot jump up, I don't know if that's realistic or not. But at any rate, to Sark's credit, when something has really gone wrong in one year, he's done a pretty good job of reversing course the following year. Like going from 24 to 25, it was turnovers on offense. No offense in the SEC turned the ball over more than Texas did in 2024. They had 26 turnovers last year. Only Auburn had fewer. Texas only turned the ball over nine times in 13 games. So ball security was improved. They did a better job protecting. So, Bobby, the fact that when Sark does emphasize it, and we can certainly debate why haven't they emphasized it more, when Sark does emphasize something, they typically get it fixed, makes me feel, Bobby, like we won't be talking about penalties as such a crippling issue for this team like it was last year.
- [25:40]
Bobby Burton
Yeah, and, and look, my point on. My thought on that is you're right about emphasizing turnovers, but turnovers directly correlate to wins and losses. Penalties in the individual games don't necessarily correlate to wins and losses in individual games. The thing that y' all brought up that I think is accurate is that penalties over the whole of the season can matter and correlate to a national championship because your ultimate goal is not just to be in the top five or get into the playoffs. It's to win the whole thing. And so a more disciplined team, I think, is going to be better penalties. From, from a penalty perspective, I would also say this is it as it relates to what you're discussing this there, Jeff. Hold on a second, guys. I forgot what I was even saying. What. What was the question?
- [26:37]
Jeff Howell
We're talking about penalties.
- [26:39]
Bobby Burton
Yeah, but what part of penalties that you, that you asked me,
- [26:44]
Jeff Howell
Sark emphasizing things from one year, the next is. I brought up turnover
- [26:49]
Bobby Burton
as it relates to what you're talking about in the emphasis one year, the next. I do think that it matters, but I hope he keeps the, the, the, the focus on turnovers, frankly, because that will again matter more to the Wednesday there. You can't tell Me Texas wins nine. I wins 10 games last year with, with more turnovers. If they would have turned the ball over, they would have lost five or six games potentially because Arch played poorly at times. The offense, the offensive line was bad at times, just outright bad. If they would have turned the ball over in key games more often. I mean, look, I think, I think penalties matter in the totality, but I think you got to keep your eye on the ball on red zone, third and short and, and turnovers. But penalties matter. But don't exaggerate their emphasis. Even if I do think Sark's addressed things in the past, don't, don't lose the force through the Trees.
- [27:52]
Jeff Howe
And one thing to add, Jeff, sorry. Sark did note because I asked him about, you know, pre snap lifeball kind of situations. He noted some penalties you just, you kind of just got to live with. He's like, if you want to emphasize being a physical running team, you can't really fault sometimes playing through the whistle on the offensive line a little bit. He said pre snap is a problem, obviously, and post play, but that live ball area, sometimes you just have to live with it. And you know, if that, if that adds up and, but you're, you're still, you know, playing with that physicality or that effort, I don't think they're, they're going to punish you too much. The coaching staff is going to punish you too much.
- [28:25]
Jeff Howell
Yeah. C.J. i'll let you get the last word because I know you've done a lot of research and deep diving on short yardage stuff. Is there anything CJ that just deflates you more or angers you more or is worthy of a hat throw than third and one, third and two, and somebody jumps off sides, you have an illegal shift and now you're. The odds are a lot longer when it's third and six, third and seven, and you're trying to move the chains. Yeah.
- [28:45]
Hank South
Look, pick a game. In that first half of the season, there was an issue with penalties or lack of execution. The run game was poor.
- [28:53]
Bobby Burton
Right.
- [28:53]
Hank South
You go back to Florida and Oklahoma, Texas lived in third and forever, basically the entire first half of those games. And you look at, really the San Jose State game, you look at utep, you look at Ohio State, Texas not being able to gain 1 yard or 2 yards when needed in the running game cost them, cost them points time and time again. So we did see more success in the second half of that season. I do hope, and I'm sure I speak for everybody here, I just hope that right now with the bodies in that offensive line room, the five that are trotted out to begin the season are the five that put Texas in the position to succeed the most in their running game with the offensive line, with the penalty situation. That's what I hope right now because that wasn't the case a year ago. Now that you have enough bodies with enough, you know, versatility, enough experience.
- [29:44]
Bobby Burton
Yeah.
- [29:45]
Hank South
It should put you in a better position and it should put Arch in a better position to succeed at a higher level. More consistency. With more consistency to begin the 2026 season.
- [29:56]
Bobby Burton
You got to get the five, the right five out there right away.
- [30:01]
Hank South
Yep.
- [30:01]
Bobby Burton
Is what C.J. saying and I completely, completely agree it with Ohio State coming in week two and even with the two non other non cons and going to Tennessee and Oklahoma top first five games, I. I could not agree more. You have to start faster in 2026.
- [30:18]
Jeff Howell
Absolutely. And we'll we're not too long away from seeing if the Longhorns can do that. All right, Bobby, Hank, C.J. thank you guys for the time, the knowledge, the intel, the expertise. As always, big thank you to Matthew behind the scenes for producing it, doing the great job that he does. Thank you to Prize Picks for sponsoring this edition of On Texas Football. If you're not a member over@ontexasfootball.com you want the best Longhorn recruiting coverage in the market. You want to know everything that's going on the 40 acres. We're talking about it over on Texas football.com make sure that you like this video. Make sure you're subscribed to the on Texas Football YouTube channel and make sure you've got your notifications set. That way anytime we go live or drop a new video, you're not going to miss any of our Longhorn coverage or breaking news for Bobby, for Hank, for cj, for Matthew, for the entire On Texas Football staff, I'm Jeff Howell. Thank you so much for watching and listening. And until next time, welcome.
- [31:02]
CJ Vogel
The car is beautiful. Where did you end up going for it? This exclusive place that dad has connections with. They have more cars for more dealerships than like anywhere else. You have to put me in touch. What's it called? It's DL.
- [31:15]
Jeff Howe
Where?
- [31:17]
CJ Vogel
Dune dial. There's an accent on the E. Do you mean Yes. I gotta undone deal cars. Lift please. You going past Kimage? Oh, kimmage. No done deal cars. You couldn't possibly go anywhere else.