Grading Texas' Dramatic Win Over Ohio State

Video notes: Grading Texas’ dramatic win over Ohio State TexasVOCFB | Hosts: Matthew Miller & Thomas “Tommy” Bresee Sponsored by Fandle Historic comeback win. Position-by-position grades after the game. Intro 0:00–0:18 Welcome to grading the Texas Longhorns. Historic comeback. Straight to QB. Quarterback — Arch Manning Grades: Tommy B+ | Matthew C+ Range they land on: C+ to B+ 0:18–3:42 Tommy (B+): Incredible down the stretch. Deserves all the respect. Take the drops away and you’re looking at ~270 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs. Could have been 350–370 with how many guys were wide open. Sark scheme got people open consistently. Missed Spencer Shannon (scrambled instead), Ryan Wingo over the middle, Emmett Mosley over the middle. Film room with Sark and A.J. Millwee won’t be kind on accuracy. Adjusted completion % around 68% after drops. Numbers are fine; leftover tape issues. Matthew (C+): Tale of two halves. First half pretty bad. Down-to-down play still an issue. Explosive throws he will hit — Cam Coleman catch (Coleman should have just run under it instead of the weird almost-dive; it was a C throw). Wingo drop would have been another explosive. Trouble reading the middle of the field; outside is easy, checkdowns come quick. Has to rip the middle more. Fourth quarter: A++. Best fourth quarter by a Texas QB since Vince Young. Better than any Colt McCoy fourth quarter they remember. Big-play guy who can make all the throws, but the “boring QB stuff” isn’t all the way there yet. If supporting cast doesn’t drop balls, the conversation is glowing with only nitpicks. Running backs Grades: Matthew B- | Tommy B+ 3:42–5:22 Matthew (B-): Really good three quarters. First quarter rough because of Relique Brown fumble. Can’t give the ball away in a game like that. Lucky to lose the turnover battle and still win. Without the fumble it’s A-. Hollywood Smothers and Relique Brown really good down the stretch. Relique’s physicality in the second half — running people over — was fun. Reminiscent of Super Bowl snap-over-the-head moment; demons exercised. Tommy (B+): Two big mistakes — Relique running out of bounds on 3rd down (should have put his head down for the extra yard and avoided 4th down) and the fumble. Outside of that, lights out. Smothers consistent all day. Relique’s physical runs late. Duo they went out and got in the offseason made the difference. Wide receivers Grade: Both C+ (Matthew could have gone C-) 5:22–7:50 Lowest unit grade of the game. Did not help Arch enough. Cam Coleman: Has to run under the ball or the play cannot end in an INT (one-in-a-billion play, but still). Made three big catches down the stretch. Ryan Wingo: Ball hits him in the hands. Always drops the 40–50 yard / TD plays, never the 2–3 yarders. Had the TD catch later. Emmett Mosley: Face ran through on the Relique fumble (60/40 Relique’s fault, but Timmons in his face immediately). Biggest WR down the stretch. All three of the “big three” had a massive mistake. They bounced back enough. Unit going forward is still elite if they clean up the small stuff. Ohio State took Coleman and Wingo away at times. Tight ends Grades: Matthew A | Tommy A- 7:50–10:09 Best unit on the team. Matthew (A): Blocked really well. Emery Winston second-leading receiver + the biggest 4th-down conversion of the game (biggest play of the game). Needs to lose 10–15 lbs to become a real receiving threat, but he’s a good player and will play a lot. Spencer Shannon one drop (6-7 guy has to catch it when he’s going to get hit). Nick Townsend injury sucks — he would have taken some of Winston’s snaps. Georgia-level blocking. Receiving can improve but they don’t need it. Tommy (A- only because of Townsend injury): Three guys who can block at an incredibly high level. If Winston is 40 yards a game that’s plenty. Will need TEs more as teams key Coleman/Wingo. Worst-case Saturday: elite blocking, not a ton of receiving — liveable with the weapons around them. Offensive line Grades: Matthew A- | Tommy A 10:09–12:02 Matthew (A-): Only negative is first-half interior push. After that, good. Pass pro amazing — two sacks (one on OL, one 100% on Arch getting flustered). Fine vs Ohio State. Will face better DLs (LSU, others) but they’ll have more reps. Tommy (A, on a curve): Didn’t think they would push Ohio State off the ball at any point. They did in the fourth quarter. Drives of 15, 13, and 12 plays don’t happen without interior push. 3.4 YPC including sack yardage. Pass