Five lessons from the Longhorns’ 51-3 loss to UL-Monroe

The Longhorns are now 4-0 after defeating the UL-Monroe Warhawks by a final score of 51-3.

The spotlight was on Arch Manning, who made his first college start tonight. His performance wasn’t perfect, but Arch still showed off his dangerous arm strength and potential to be a dual-threat QB.

It was a well-rounded performance from both sides of the ball for the Horns. Texas has a lot of good things to look forward to as they begin their SEC schedule next week.

Just like Quinn Ewers in his first college game, Manning misjudged his first drive against UL-Monroe and threw an interception.

You could tell Manning was a little nervous, but once he calmed down, Manning showed his potential again. On his second drive, he hit Isaiah Bond with a throw just over the defensive back’s shoulders for 56 yards. He was a little inaccurate with the deep ball at times, but he connected with Matthew Golden for a 46-yard catch and nearly completed another 40-yard pass to Silas Bolden before it was ruled incomplete.

Manning finished with 258 yards and two touchdowns, although he only completed 15 of his 29 passes.

Manning did force a few balls, which led to his two interceptions, but that shouldn’t distract people from the hype surrounding him. Again, let me remind you that Quinn Ewers also threw an interception in his very first drive at the college level against the same team. Manning is probably the starter for almost every other school in FBS play, he’ll be fine.

The Longhorns didn’t need the running back to win at UTSA, and theoretically the Longhorns probably would have won without him on Saturday. But I don’t want to diminish Blue’s importance. He will be desperately needed as the competition improves.

Blue came back and managed 124 yards on 25 attempts, along with three touchdowns and a three-yard pass reception for his fourth touchdown of the night.

His speed coupled with his agility helped the Longhorns gain a lot of yards in the open field, and his tenacity in the red zone helped the Longhorns find the end zone several times.

Blue could have done even more damage if Manning hadn’t struggled with some screen passes and dump-offs intended for Blue, but regardless, Blue had the strongest performance of any Longhorn in this game.

Texas will need his productivity in games against Georgia. His ability to find extra yards when under pressure will be huge in games like this where the big plays aren’t as frequent.

No receiver for Texas had more than three catches on Saturday. Everyone played a role in the receiver group.

Isaiah Bond and Matthew Golden are the top targets for this offense and have played their roles well so far this season. But when Golden or Bond aren’t playing their best, players like Ryan Wingo, Johntay Cook, Gunnar Helm and DeAndre Moore can step in and make big plays for the team. Silas Bolden also seemed to get into his groove at receiver in this game, which only expands the options.

With Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell and Jordan Whittington all moving on to the NFL, the Longhorns didn’t seem to have done well at all with their new signings.

The defense allowed just 111 yards rushing on the night, the fewest it has allowed this season. Colorado State was second with 194 yards.

Allowing just 22 points in the first four games is about as good as you can get, even though the Longhorns have only played one Power Four team so far.

The defense forced two interceptions and also managed a safety that night. UL-Monroe had no answer to Texas’ third-down defense, and the Warhawks only converted two of their twelve third downs.

It’s good to know that the defense can help Texas win when the offense stumbles. With tougher opponents on the schedule now, we’ll see how the defense responds when the games get closer.

One of head coach Steve Sarkisian’s favorite sayings: “This team really went full throttle and took no breaks.”

On paper, Texas has been the favorite for all games, but the implementation in practice exceeds all expectations.

Before Saturday’s game, Texas could have taken it easy against UL-Monroe. After all, they’re ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. But Texas didn’t let the hype surrounding the team go to their heads. They’re still on a mission to prove they’re the best team in the nation.

The fact that the team has won every game so far by at least three possessions shows that they are not planning on beating any opponent easily. It is obvious that Sarkisian does not allow this team to give less than 100 percent in every game and that is why Texas is No. 1.

Texas’ first opponent in the SEC will be Mississippi State next Saturday. The game will be played at DKR Stadium and will start at either 2:30 p.m. CT or 3:15 p.m. CT.