Florida beat No. 7 Texas 27-24 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday. Burnt Orange Nation reported that the Longhorns blew a 17-3 lead. Afterward, Steve Sarkisian was visibly frustrated, per Yahoo Sports, and said Texas will 'evaluate everything.' A second Yahoo piece reported that he would not rule out replacing Arch Manning. It quoted him saying the team is 'not playing good offensive football' and that 'everything is going to be evaluated.' The headline frames this as Sarkisian declining to rule out a change. The feed summaries don't include his exact words on the quarterback position, so we can't say how firmly he addressed it.
The box score shows an offense that stalled. Texas managed 272 total yards and 13 first downs, converted 2 of 10 third downs and held the ball for 21:49 to Florida's 38:11. Manning finished 14 of 20 for 173 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. He also carried 10 times for 0 yards and lost a fumble, Texas's only turnover. His 8.7 yards per attempt was well above Florida's 4.4, but Texas had few drives to use it on. Emmett Mosley V caught two passes for 76 yards, including a 62-yarder. Ryan Niblett returned a punt for a touchdown, and Texas's only other points came on a Raleek Brown touchdown run, a Cam Coleman touchdown catch and a 38-yard field goal from Gianni Spetic.
Florida won with volume rather than efficiency. Tramell Jones Jr. went 22 of 35 for 155 yards and two touchdowns to Lacota Dippre, and Jadan Baugh ran 25 times for 91 yards. The Gators converted 8 of 19 third downs and 2 of 2 fourth downs, and they were flagged seven times for 55 yards to Texas's one for 15. Patrick Durkin made both field goal tries, the longest from 45 yards. A kneel-down at the Texas 31 ended the game.
Manning's season gives the quarterback question some context, though not an answer. Through six games he has thrown for 1,299 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions on 107 of 167 passing. He has 97 rushing yards on 47 carries. The one interception-free outing before Saturday was the UTSA game. His 260-yard, three-touchdown, two-interception game at Oklahoma was his biggest total of the year, and Saturday's 173 yards was his lowest since that UTSA game.
The record needs a caveat. The outlets call this Texas's second straight loss, and Yahoo noted that Texas was No. 1 two weeks ago. Our tables list the Oct. 10 game at Oklahoma as a 24-24 draw and show Texas at 4-1 in the SEC's ninth spot. The AP poll released Oct. 11 had Texas seventh, down six places. The loss is firmly established. Whether the OU game is counted as one is not, so we are not giving a losing-streak count of our own.
Florida is 4-2 and 2-2 in the SEC, eighth in the conference. It lost 45-17 at Missouri and 38-19 to South Carolina before this win. Its next game is at Georgia on Oct. 31, and Georgia was No. 1 in the Oct. 11 AP poll. Texas hosts Ole Miss on Oct. 24, with the evaluation Sarkisian described hanging over the offense.
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