
The No. 7 Texas Longhorns’ offense laid an egg against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl, their recurring offensive issues finally catching up to them against one of the better defenses in the country.
Texas needs an offensive slump-buster to get the offense kickstarted, and it may come in the form of the Florida Gators’ defense on Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Florida is downright bad defensively, ranked No. 113 in scoring defense and giving up 5.6 yards per play, good enough for No. 90 in the country. If the Longhorns cannot figure out what ails them against a defense that has barely shown a pulse over the last two weeks, they may never figure it out. Steve Sarkisian has struggled to put Arch in a position to be successful offensively, while Manning has yet to show an acceptable level of development for a fourth-year player and a second-year starter.
While the Florida defense has a lot of questions, the Florida offense knows where its bread is buttered, led by all-world running back Jadan Baugh. In the last two games, defenses have held him to rare sub-100-yard games, and he still sits top-10 in both total yardage and yards per game. It will be a matchup of strength vs. strength, as Will Muschamp’s unit has the bodies and skills to slow down the run, in hopes to put. the game on the right arm of whichever quarterback the Gators trot out on Saturday.
This is once again a game that rises and falls on the abilities of the head coach and the architect of the offense to put the team in a better position to succeed. If they can’t figure it out against Florida, the fervor around Sark’s choice not to hire an offensive coordinator will continue to build.
- No. 7 Texas vs. Florida opponent preview: Gators look to end two-game skid
- On Arch Manning’s maddening inconsistency
- Texas three and outs offensively are ‘a blinking light’
- Steve Sarkisian takes issue with pass-interference calls against Texas
- How Texas offensive transfers are performing
- How Texas defensive transfers are performing
- BON Roundtable: Can the Texas offense break out against Florida?
Injury report
Texas
- WR Kaliq Lockett — out
- OL Jaydon Chatman — out
- DL Justus Terry — probable
- OL Jordan Coleman — probable
Florida
- RB Duke Clark — out
- WR Vernell Brown, III — questionable
- WR Bailey Stockton — questionable
- QB Aaron Philo — questionable
How to watch
TV: ABC
Time: 11:00 a.m. Central
Livestream: ESPNUnlimited
Radio: Texassports.com. Broadcasts are also available on Sirius 132, XM 199, and App Ch. 953
Odds: The Longhorns are 11.5-point favorites on FanDuel
Weather: Sunny, 64 degrees, wind ENE 3 mph
Source: Yahoo Sports






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