Longhorns seek to regain offensive 'mojo' in SEC play

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Winning a Southeastern Conference championship was the first goal that Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian set ahead of this season. 

However, as senior linebacker David Gbenda said, "Teams that end up playing for the national championship always get better throughout the season." 

Although the No. 5 Longhorns have looked capable of an SEC championship and a College Football Playoff run, Sarkisian and the team understand that there is more to be improved. 

"Our mojo offensively is one thing I want to get back," Sarkisian said.  "If we can get that clicking along with what we are doing defensively, and on special teams wise, that would be a huge bonus."

In their first three games, Texas outscored their opponents by a combined 120 points. However, in the past three games, the once-explosive offense only outscored their opponents by 19. 

In their loss against the Georgia Bulldogs in Week 8, the Longhorns rushed for 29 yards while boasting a mere 13% efficiency rate on third down. In their 3-point victory against Vanderbilt, Texas initially went up 21-7 by the end of the second quarter, but failed to put them away in the second half, only scoring six points. 

The blame for the lack of production on offense has been spread across injuries, penalties, tipped passes and struggles in the run game. Still, the team ranks fourth in the SEC in passing yards per game while ninth in rushing. 

Offensive play-calling has been under a microscope as short, horizontal gains have dominated the past two games. Even so, the team has the utmost confidence in quarterback Quinn Ewers and their offense in the vertical passing game. 

All this to say that while Texas has struggled in the past couple of games, Sarkisian knows it is just going to take one explosive game to get the team back to where they need to be. 

“If we can find a little of that mojo,” Sarkisian said. “I think it's really gonna spark our confidence and kick us into high gear.” 

In order to accomplish this, and simultaneously improve their rushing game, the offense has to mitigate their pre-snap penalties and provide better quarterback protection, tight end Gunnar Helm said. 

“I think we just got to get back to where we were at the beginning of the season,” Helm said. 

The amount of pressure surrounding the team has led to them “overtrying,” Sarkisian said. It is important that the team feels confident and trusts in themselves to run even simple plays at a high level. 

“I think we’ve, all on the offense side, realized that we may be trying to do too much because we may be trying to prove ourselves,” offensive lineman Jake Majors said. “If we just get back to the basics in doing our job, focusing on the key details, then we’re going to get back to who we were.”

The Texas Longhorns will host the Florida Gators (4-3, 2-2 SEC) at 11 a.m., Saturday. Texas Gameday is the official pregame show of Texas football and will air at 10 a.m. on KBVO ahead of the game.