Steve Sarkisian Says the Receiver-First Offense Was a Miscalculation - and the Screens, Balance and Raleek Brown Fixed It

AUSTIN - The offense Texas built last offseason was designed around its wide receivers - transfer addition Cam Coleman, speedy Ryan Wingo and reliable Emmett Mosley V - with max protection in 12 personnel buying Arch Manning time to throw deep, Burnt Orange Nation detailed in a breakdown published Tuesday. It did not work, and head coach Steve Sarkisian has said so in terms the site calls a strategic miscalculation that nearly launched Texas out of College Football Playoff contention.

'I think every year you assess who you think you're going to be as an offensive football team, and then you lean into aspects of your offense that you think will be the most beneficial moving forward,' Sarkisian said in the account. The problems, the breakdown found, began when Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles overwhelmed the Texas line with blitzes: negative plays in the run game, constant pressure on Manning, condensed formations that could not punish vacated space over the middle, and a 10-personnel answer against Oklahoma that produced two touchdowns but no solution to the pressure - through a home loss to Florida in which Manning, in the site's words, cratered.

The turn ran through the running backs and a tight end. Fifth-year tight end Michael Masunas gave the offense a pass-catching threat defenses had to account for against Ole Miss. The 31-3 win over Mississippi State cemented the return of the running-back screen - a 22-yard screen into the red zone that forced Mississippi State to reconsider blitzing, then a third-and-goal conversion five plays later with Raleek Brown unaccounted for out of the backfield. At Missouri, Sarkisian read zone coverage early and dialed up another screen, to freshman Derrek Cooper for a 22-yard touchdown, and Brown's wheel route scored the go-ahead touchdown with 5:03 remaining against man coverage.

Brown's numbers carry the shift: 28 receiving yards all season entering the Mississippi State game - and no catches at all against Florida and Ole Miss - then eight catches for 62 yards and two touchdowns in the last two games. 'I think Raleek's passing-game threat is big for us,' Sarkisian said. 'Oddly enough, what's come out of it is I think our receiver numbers have kind of gone up as the ball's been spread around... hey, I have enough humility to admit when I'm not right on point, and when we're not as good as we can be. We adjust and we shift.' Texas has won three straight, over then-No. 10 Ole Miss and then-No. 18 Missouri among them, and the site puts the Longhorns' playoff odds at 75 percent with three games left - Saturday's trip to LSU next.