Texas Lets Florida Back In: Three Points From the Longhorns' 27-24 Loss
Texas’ 27-24 loss to Florida exposed problems beyond Arch Manning’s late fumble, from stalled drives to third-down breakdowns. Colin Simmons’ injury adds uncertainty as the Longhorns face a narrowing path in the SEC race.
By Jack Walsh · Published
Texas’ collapse against Florida exposes deeper problems than a late turnover
AUSTIN — Texas had the start it needed. It could not produce the response that mattered.
The Longhorns drove 75 yards for a touchdown on their opening possession, added a field goal on the next and pushed their lead to 17-3 when Ryan Niblett returned a punt 63 yards early in the second quarter. Against a Florida team coming off consecutive blowout losses and starting a backup quarterback, Texas appeared positioned to move past its disappointment against Oklahoma.
Instead, the offense stalled, the defense lost its grip on third down, and Florida scored 24 unanswered points on its way to a 27-24 victory Saturday. No. 7 Texas fell to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the SEC, its second consecutive defeat after entering the Oklahoma game ranked No. 1.
Arch Manning’s late fumble ended the Longhorns’ final scoring opportunity, but the problems extended well beyond that snap. Texas repeatedly failed in short yardage, allowed Florida to dictate the second half and lost star edge rusher Colin Simmons to a lower-leg injury.
Three takeaways from a loss that leaves Steve Sarkisian with urgent questions on both sides of the ball:
1. Florida won the downs that decided the game
The clearest explanation for Florida’s comeback was its transformation on third down.
The Gators went 0-for-8 before halftime. After the break, they converted eight of 11, allowing first-time starter Tramell Jones Jr. to control a game that initially appeared to be getting away from him.
The turning point came late in the second quarter, when the teams faced fourth-down decisions near midfield.
Texas had worked its way out from its own 3-yard line before a sack left Manning facing third-and-16. His completion to Jermaine Bishop Jr. initially received a first-down spot, but replay moved the ball back a yard. Sarkisian kept the offense on the field, and Florida linebacker Ty Jackson stopped Hollywood Smothers behind the line on fourth-and-1.
Florida faced a considerably more difficult conversion on the ensuing possession. On fourth-and-12 from the Texas 36, Jones delivered a sideline throw to Dallas Wilson for 17 yards. The Gators finished the drive with a touchdown pass to Lacota Dippre with 18 seconds remaining.
Texas could not gain one yard to extend its possession. Florida gained 17 when it needed 12, cutting the deficit to 17-10 with the second-half kickoff still to come.
The Gators then opened the third quarter with a 15-play, 69-yard touchdown drive that consumed 8:03. They converted five third downs along the way, the last on Dippre’s second touchdown reception. What had been a two-touchdown Texas lead was gone before the Longhorns’ offense returned to the field.
Texas answered with consecutive three-and-outs. Florida later moved ahead on Patrick Durkin’s 28-yard field goal, and another failed fourth-down attempt — Manning was stopped for a loss on fourth-and-2 near midfield — gave the Gators a short field for Jadan Baugh’s 11-yard touchdown run. Florida turned both Texas fourth-down failures into touchdowns.
The short-yardage failures were especially damaging because they left the defense little margin for another extended possession. Texas finished 2-for-10 on third down and 1-for-3 on fourth. Florida held the ball for 38:11 and ran 81 offensive plays to the Longhorns’ 50, despite averaging only 3.9 yards per play.
CFBDepth’s second-half efficiency numbers reflected that imbalance: Texas averaged minus-0.36 expected points added per play, compared with plus-0.16 for Florida. The Gators had 43 classified plays after halftime to Texas’ 19.
Florida did not need an explosive offensive performance to win. It needed to keep earning another set of downs — and Texas gave Jones enough opportunities to do exactly that.
2. Manning’s final turnover should not obscure the larger offensive failure
Manning completed 14 of 20 passes for 173 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Those numbers do not capture how little the Texas offense accomplished between its opening possessions and its late attempt to salvage the game.
The Longhorns went 47 minutes and 21 seconds of game time between offensive scores. Seven consecutive possessions ended without points, including the brief series that closed the first half. All seven produced negative EPA in CFBDepth’s drive data.
The opponent makes that drought harder to explain. Florida had allowed 83 points in its previous two games, losses to Missouri and South Carolina. Texas had an opportunity to rebuild confidence against a struggling defense; instead, the Gators repeatedly disrupted its protection and forced it off the field.
Sarkisian’s postgame assessment extended beyond his quarterback. He identified route-running details, pass protection, blitz pickup and short-yardage execution among the problems, while also acknowledging that his play-calling required scrutiny.
“Everything is going to be evaluated,” Sarkisian said.
Pressed on whether that included Manning, he replied: “Everything means everything.”
Manning did provide the play that briefly changed the final minutes.
Trailing 27-17 and facing fourth-and-6 from his own 29, he escaped pressure, moved left and found Emmett Mosley V behind the defense for a 62-yard gain. Two plays later, Manning connected with Cam Coleman for a 9-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to three with 4:21 remaining. The completion to Mosley was Texas’ longest offensive play of the season.
CFBDepth valued the play at plus-6.33 EPA. Its importance went beyond the yardage: a failed conversion would have given Florida possession deep in Texas territory with a two-score lead. Instead, Manning turned a nearly exhausted possession into a scoring opportunity.
That ability to create outside the structure of a play remains valuable. The problem is how much Texas needed it.
The Mosley completion accounted for nearly 36% of Manning’s passing yardage. His other 19 attempts produced 111 yards. The point is not to discount the explosive play, but to recognize how little sustained production surrounded it.
The defense still gave Texas one more chance. A stop and a 17-yard Niblett punt return put the Longhorns at their own 46 with 2:32 left, needing a field goal to force overtime. After a two-yard run, Myles Graham reached Manning on a blitz, forced the ball loose and watched Kanye Clark recover it for Florida. It was the Gators’ fifth sack.
A week after a late interception helped Oklahoma finish off Texas, another turnover prevented Manning from completing a comeback. That sequence will draw attention, but treating it as the entire explanation would let too much else escape examination.
Manning needs to protect the ball in those moments. Texas also needs an offense that does not require him to rescue an afternoon of failed possessions with one extraordinary throw.
3. Colin Simmons’ injury adds uncertainty to an already difficult recovery
The most consequential development beyond the final score may be Simmons’ availability.
The Texas edge rusher went down with 13:47 remaining and the game tied at 17. He appeared to injure his right ankle while engaged with a blocker, needed help leaving the field and was later taken to the locker room on a cart. Sarkisian described it afterward as a lower-leg injury and said he did not yet know its extent.
There is no basis yet for assigning a recovery timeline. There is ample reason for Texas to be concerned about what an absence would mean.
Simmons finished with eight tackles, four tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries and the Longhorns’ only sack. He entered Saturday leading the country with 9.5 sacks and increased his season total to 10.5.
His importance was already evident three weeks earlier at Tennessee, where a school-record 5.5 sacks helped Texas escape with a 20-17 victory. That performance was initially credited as five sacks before a statistical correction.
The challenge of replacing that production would extend beyond finding someone to occupy his position. A pass rusher who can win without additional pressure gives a defense more options in coverage. Without Simmons, Texas could face a more difficult choice between committing extra defenders to the rush and giving opposing quarterbacks more time.
That is an uncomfortable possibility for a defense that already struggled to get off the field against Florida.
It should not, however, become an explanation for everything that happened Saturday. The Gators had erased the 14-point deficit before Simmons left. The offensive problems were already established. His injury complicates the recovery; it does not account for the collapse.
Texas hosts Ole Miss on Oct. 24 and Mississippi State on Oct. 31 before consecutive trips to Missouri and LSU. The schedule leaves little opportunity to work through those problems against forgiving opposition.
The Longhorns must now prepare for that stretch while awaiting clarity on their most disruptive defender. Whatever the evaluation reveals, the immediate task remains the same: protect the quarterback, convert manageable downs and finish defensive possessions.
Texas did enough early Saturday to take control. Its next step is proving it can sustain that level of play.
