Florida vs Texas PREVIEW: Texas Insider Reveals the Matchups That Decide It

Colin Simmons is obviously the name that's got to jump top of mind. He might be the best defensive player in the country. I think everybody saw what he did against Tennessee with those five-and-a-half sacks. I mean, the guy's ridiculous. He might be the first defensive player drafted when we get to April. So, ladies and gents, welcome back to High Top Sports. I'm joined this evening with Brad from Locked On Longhorns, previewing the Florida Gators versus Texas this weekend. Game set to kick off at 11 a.m. Texas time, 12 p.m. for the rest of us. Brad, welcome to the show. Happy to have you here. Both of us coming off of a dark weekend, so this should be fun. Yeah, misery loves company, right? Both fan bases a little frustrated with what they saw. Obviously, Florida coming off of back-to-back losses, so at least for Texas it's just one, but it seems like more questions than answers for both of these teams right now. It feels like a very big game in Austin, Texas this Saturday. It does. A lot of pressure on Sark. I'm excited to kind of pick your brain on where Texas fans are feeling. I mean, from the outside looking in, there's been somewhat of a hot seat, I would say, going into it because the expectations for Texas are very high. You've got a very talented football team in Texas across the board. We'll talk about Arch, too. I mean, I think there's been high expectations since he's walked through those doors. And I want to get your thoughts. Has he lived up to it? Are you wanting more? Are you expecting more? Things like that. But let's talk Oklahoma just for a quick second. Your thoughts on that game. And we were just talking before the show a little bit. It's a wild one. Not what I expected. I thought Texas would handle them pretty well. Are there some things that popped up in that game? As Florida fans, we had some signs of concerns that we saw in our early wins. Were there some signs that you saw that finally came to fruition against Oklahoma? Yeah, I was having a good day, Shelton, until you brought that up. My bad. You know, yeah, I think so. I think everyone around the country watched the Texas-Ohio State game. I mean, the Longhorns needed a miracle fourth quarter comeback in that game. So it's not like they played 60 minutes of clean football in that one. Texas's other game against a Power Four team before Oklahoma was in Knoxville. And Texas almost choked that one away, too. They only won by three. So, like, in their two other games against teams with the polls, they didn't look that great. They did enough to win. And I think they earned the number one team or the number one ranking in the country because the resume was what it was. but you asked me were there signs that something like this was possible yeah I mean Texas was playing with fire uh and their two other games against power four competition and well they tried it again and this time they got burned so uh yeah some issues on offense the special teams is a disaster right now I'm sure you'll ask me more about it in depth the Texas defense looks national championship good but it's the other two phases that had some struggles again against Ohio State and Tennessee and they struggled enough in those two departments to cost them the game against oklahoma this past saturday shout out to muschamp we love muschamp here and gator nation i made a joke tonight is if we somehow can pull muschamp away i'll get i'll get his name tatted on my butt cheek because that's how much i love me some muschamp so kudos to you guys for locking him in uh let's talk arch for a bit man this is a a you know polarizing topic as it always is i was reserved on him coming into this year i like arch i i mean i wanted to do well as i think a lot of people do but just obviously hasn't lived up to those expectations which i don't know if honestly see if he ever could because the expectations are so grand outside of winning the national championship and just throwing for 8,000 yards essentially i don't believe that he ever would but even off the standard i still don't think he's even lived up to just like a normal expectation of a true five-star quarterback has as you would expect him to be obviously looked really good at the end of the year last year what i needed to see was how does he do under pressure because last year the pressure kind of went away and he was able to just go be himself now we're seeing that pressure come back as as it should be it's going to be there and you like you said you played with fire for these last couple of weeks is it an Arch problem is it a Sark problem for us on the outside what what is it actually can i answer yes okay i think both of those two guys deserve some blame and they're kind of attached at the hip that's how it always works with offensive minded head coach and quarterback uh look arch has not developed the way that texas fans would have hoped right he's more than 20 starts into his career you know in the second half of last season he was playing like one of the best quarterbacks in college football so texas fans were hoping that would carry over into 2026 and not only would he pick up where he left off but he would take another step and actually look like one of the best quarterbacks in college football and live up to some of the expectations that were placed upon him as unrealistic as they may have been but he's been very inconsistent still struggles processing as quick as I would like still made some bad decisions obviously two fourth quarter interceptions against Oklahoma which proved costly one of them a pick six the other one led to the game-winning field goal at the buzzer so he's still making some decisions he still has some mechanical things that just don't make sense for a fourth year player uh who again has started more than 20 games in his Texas career but Steve Sarkisian's the 11 million dollar head coach and a lot of Longhorn fans have been you know asking for Sark to hire an offensive play caller for the last couple of years he hasn't done that he's doubled down he's tripled down he says that he's the guy and when you're giving a player the talent of Arch Manning and the results just aren't there and it's going to fall on the head coach I don't think Steve Sarkisian is tailoring the offense to Arch Manning's capabilities. Like Arch Manning's a very good runner, right? He's not like his uncles. This dude can move and Texas will not run the quarterback at all. And Texas is calling way too many slow developing downfield shots. They're hunting explosives. Like you think of Sark's offense at Alabama in 2020, how many deep shots that were, they're hunting those when it feels like if this offense just spread it out, went a little quicker, went a little up tempo, maybe run the quarterback more they'd have more success so it's a combination of again the coach not finding a way to get the most out of the quarterback but I'm not absolving Arch Manning of the blame it's disappointing that he is not further along in his own personal development at this stage of his college career yeah I would argue for Florida on that side of it that's kind of what we are looking at right now we're trying to spread it out more we obviously have an O-line situation as well that's not doing us any favors but trying to get the ball to those guys in space, and we have features just like you guys. You have a great wide receiving core, probably one of the tops in the country, on top of a great running back in Hollywood Smothers. And so there was a lot of expectations for this Texas offense to be absolutely explosive, and maybe that's where Sark felt the same way and has continued trying to find that. It obviously has not been able to find it yet. How is your confidence heading into this weekend against Florida, which has both been probably one of the worst secondaries in the country, unfortunately, as a Florida fan. It kills me to say that, but truth is in the pudding. So what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, boy, you talk about a get-right opportunity for the Texas offense, and this is one of those games, like you never want to put too much stock into one Saturday, but if the offense doesn't look good against a Florida defense that, no offense, has looked like a Swiss cheese in SEC play this year, I'm sure your audience feels the same way, then you have to wonder if this Texas offense is ever going to figure it out. So, yeah, look, Texas is back home. They should have Florida's attention because of what happened last year in the swamp, also because they're coming off of a loss. Steve Sarkisian is 6-0 in his last six games coming off of non-season ending losses. And he's outscored opponents by an average of 35-20 in those football games. So typically when Texas does slip up, Sark is able to get the guys right and ready to go for the following week. Does feel like a little bit of a perfect storm with the way Florida's playing right now. If this game was three weeks ago, I don't know if I'd feel as confident as I do. But yeah, this needs to be the game where Texas figures it out offensively. Arch has to have a good showing the receivers need to get the ball more and make some things happen the running game has not been consistent at all for Texas it feels like i know Florida's a talented team they always are but uh this is one of those where if we're still asking the same questions here in Austin about the offense next week then there are going to be a lot of people who aren't very happy yeah Florida seems to be could be the Oklahoma of last year for you guys we were Oklahoma last year for Texas winning a game that didn't seem like we should have won in Florida, um, we're able to get hot and find a good win at Texas and then you guys obviously walk into Oklahoma or into that rivalry and handle business and like you said coming off six and oh now Florida sits in that same position, it is interesting because Florida going into South Carolina appeared to be the better football team, still we get punched to the mouth going up against a team that's coming off some atrocious losses in South Carolina, I think Florida fans are hoping to lean on that, hoping to see some bounce back, there's been very little light over the last two weeks for Florida fans as Texas fans as you view this game you kind of gave me the optimistic of like this looks like an opportunity to get after and get back into a rhythm, what are some things that you are fearful of, fearful of heading into this game as a Texas fan, yeah I mean Jaden Ball has got to come top of mind, look I think the blueprint's out for stopping Florida and that's stopping Jaden Ball, I mean what was it 12 carries for 13 yards against Mizzou and 59 yards or something against South Carolina, like I mean we saw what that guy did against Texas last year especially early in that game last year, he's maybe the best running back in college football, so look, Texas's run defense has been elite that didn't cost them against Oklahoma they gave up 80 something rushing yards against the Sooners on like two yards per carry this run defense has been pretty solid but uh yeah i mean that's the number one thing for the defense but for the Texas offense it's can you get out of your own way and really it's special teams like most people around the country are going to focus on Arch and they're going to focus on Sark but the special teams is why Texas lost to Oklahoma i mean the Longhorns would have been up 17 to nothing at halftime if they didn't give up a punt block for a touchdown in the second quarter uh they gave up a punt return touchdown against Tennessee they also let Tennessee recover an onside kick it was illegal but they still didn't field it correctly they had two kickoffs out of bounce in the last two weeks tons of penalties there obviously there was a safety a block punt for a safety last year against Florida so that's the thing I mean Texas shoots itself in the foot so often with penalties and with special teams mistakes that's what gave the game away against OU that almost gave the game away against Tennessee and I think Texas is the better team I think that I know they're playing at home they should beat Florida the folks out in Vegas are telling you that but if the Longhorns continue to have these self-inflicted wounds and play with their food a little bit then And Florida absolutely is a good enough team to come into Austin and win this football game. Yeah, look, Texas hasn't really given the opposing offense any opportunities to win this football game. And that's what's kind of wild when you look at these scores. I mean, the Texas game for Tennessee was somewhat within reach for Tennessee, which felt weird. You hold De'Von Achane, one of the best running backs, in my opinion, in the SEC, to under 100 yards. And Oklahoma historically cannot run the ball, so that doesn't shock me at all. But when I saw the stats for Oklahoma and how they won, And I think it was one offensive touchdown. It's wild. Not a great stat line, like you said. And so you get three phases of the game. You guys are absolutely elite on one side of it. And you kind of came to a head with Oklahoma, who matches that energy, who's also elite on that side of the football defensively, right? So what has to break? Is it going to be the offense or is it going to be that random third phase of the game, which happened to be this time special teams? Well, yeah. No, I mean, it all has to get better on offense for sure. and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Florida's got the worst passing defense statistically in the SEC right now. Correct. Now, Oklahoma was number one. Close to the lead. Oklahoma was number one in that. Again, Texas should have done more. The Longhorns did have 380-plus yards of offense, and they averaged six yards a play against OU. And some people might hear those numbers and say, well, that's not that great, BK. Like, what are you talking about? That was the most yards per play that OU had given up in a game in their last 20 games. You got to go all the way back to the end of the 2022 season when they went 6-7 to find a game where they gave up that many yards per play. So Texas did some good things on offense, but they had a pick six. They had another interception that led to a field goal. And when the Longhorns had a lead, they couldn't run the ball. They had seven three and outs. Texas leads the SEC in three and outs. Now, normally it's exciting when you lead the conference in something. They lead the conference in three and out rate right now. So they've had too many drives offensively that just haven't gotten off the ground at all. It's the most feast or famine offense I've ever seen. They either score or they're punting it right away. And that's got to get cleaned up. Again, a lot of self-inflicted stuff. The turnovers, the three and outs, just the lack of consistency too. Those are the things that I realized I just gave you five different answers there. But for the offensive side of the ball, there's a lot of room for improvement. I do think like Matt Patricia is a very good defensive mind at Ohio State. Jim Knowles at Tennessee, same thing. Brent Venables at Oklahoma, same thing. I do think Texas is seeing maybe the three best defenses they're going to see in the regular season this year. So maybe that's a reason for optimism for Longhorn fans. But no, at some point, the Texas defense is going to give up some points. It's going to happen. There's too much talent in this league for them to be only allowing one offensive touchdown every single week. So can Texas prove that, okay, if they need to play a game in the 30s or the 40s, they have the ability on offense to do that. As of right now, the answer is no. Maybe that changes with what we see this weekend. Congratulations, boys and girls, because this show is brought to you by Price Picks, and I congratulate you because you finally made it to college football season, boys and girls. Yes, that is right. You can now get in on the action on Price Picks with college football. It is time to get up after it. This week, we're rocking and rolling, feeling pretty good with our guy Micah Alejandro from Hawaii. Then we've got, of course, King Miller with USC getting some rush touchdowns. I know we don't like FSU around these parks, but I think Ashton Daniels is going to use a little legs in this upcoming week for some nice football to get him more in his rushing yard. You can now get in on the action with Price Picks for the rushing season and individual games. And on the app, you can pick your team to just win the game outright when you use that code HMA. Download the app today using the link in the description. You play $5. You get $150 if you win that lineup for brand new users. And take advantage. Ride with the crowd. Okay? Use the great features that PrizePicks has to offer. PrizePicks It is good to be right. I was just about to say that. I go, look, I think you've got to give a little flack. And I've given this to Arch in this Texas offense. Look, we love to always see the big dog struggle and go down. But I was like, let's not be fooled here. They've gone up against arguably the three best defensive coordinator minds in the country with some of the most talented teams. in the country and handle two of the three. I would argue handle three. You had other areas of the game that kind of cost you like we've discussed, but yeah, look, there's not a lot of confidence going into this game for Florida fans. We've talked plenty about it already and we're starting to kind of well, we've talked about our concerns over the last couple of weeks here. Any given Saturday, right? I mean, we've seen where this offensive Florida offense has shown us to see some light. I think that's where Florida has to be able to figure out to get back to it. There is talent on this defensive side we've got question marks as as we all know there are there is major concerns from Florida fans that Arch will have a Heisman-esque type game um heading into it who are some of the key players for you your three key players from the Texas side going into this game um well I think you have to start with the defense with the way they're playing I mean Colin Simmons is obviously the name that's got to jump top of mind he might be the best defensive player in the country I I think everybody saw what he did against Tennessee with those five-and-a-half sacks. I mean, the guy's ridiculous. He might be the first defensive player drafted when we get to April. So he had a great first quarter against Oklahoma, had a sack, forced a fumble, had another TFL, and then to the Sooners' credit, they just like, we're not going where Colin Simmons is. We're going to go away from him. And it kind of neutralized him a little bit, but he's the player to watch for sure. Defensively, I'll throw in a linebacker, Raheem Biles. I think I should go more defense because that's been the strength of this Texas team. Raheem Biles, a transfer from Pitt, an All-American caliber player. The guy had over 100 tackles last season. The guy is a playmaking machine. A couple of interceptions, a couple of forced fumbles already this year. He flies to the football. He's going to be very important, obviously, trying to slow down Jaden Ball in the Texas running game. And then offensively, you know, maybe this is dumb for me to give this name, but there's a freshman. I could go Cam Coleman or Ryan Wingo, whatever. I think everybody knows those guys. there's a freshman by the name of Jermaine Bishop Jr. who scored a touchdown against Oklahoma only played 10 snaps Texas fans are ticked that he's not playing more he is a difference maker he is a blur in the open field he's like 160 pounds soaking wet he is very small but he can move that's a guy that Texas fans are hopeful gets the ball more I'm very hopeful that this is a game where Steve Sarkeesian maybe tries to find him a little bit if you're maybe trying to catch Florida off guard you have to assume the Gators are game planning okay what do we do with Cam Coleman what do we do with Ryan Wingo you're trying to throw a little bit of a curveball that's a name to maybe pay attention to number four on offense Jermaine Bishop Jr could be your Malachi Tony-esque player yeah i mean look he no one's that good um also the version of it we don't we don't know if he's that good because he can't get on the field and texas fans are like well every time this guy plays it feels like something good happens but uh texas they got to throw these very average tight ends on the field for some reason instead of getting more playmakers some runs so it's a frustrating part of the texas offense right now big question a lot of longhorn fans are asking so again maybe it's a waste of breath maybe i'm telling your audience something dumb by saying watch out for this guy and he only plays like 10 snaps on saturday but i'm hopeful that uh he gets some opportunities and when he gets the ball again good things typically happen for the longhorns i want you to tell them where they give you a follow as well too brad but Talk to us a little about score prediction for this game, heading into it, and kind of going back to how we started with Sark. Again, outside perspective, there's murmurings. Could Sark leave NFL hot seat? Is there any truth to that? Is there any some real meat behind that, or is that just fluff? Well, there is truth to a lot of fans being really ticked off with Steve Sarkeesian right now, and we've had some listeners on my radio show in Austin or on the Locked On Longhorn show that I host who have been asking for either Steve Sarkeesian to lose his job or to, like, hey, demote himself and hire an offensive play caller because it's his side. You know, Will Muschamp's the new D.C. You're thinking there might be some growing pains with the first-year defensive coordinator. It might take a while to get it going. The defense has been amazing. It's the offense with year six of the head coach and his system that is still struggling. So do I think there's any, like, real conversations being had by the brass at Texas? No. Like, Steve Sarkeesian is fine right now. it's one game. Texas is four and one. Uh, they're still top 10 in the country. All of their goals are still ahead of them this season. They can get to Atlanta. They can get to the playoff, whatever. Um, so that part of it, yes. The score prediction I think was the other part of your question. Uh, I'm going to go with Texas, but I'm going to say 27 to 20. Like I, I can't pick Texas to cover a spread right now. I can't pick them to distance themselves from anybody right now, because, again, they've played three Power Four games and they haven't done it. Their largest margin of victory is three in those games. And I can't pick this offense, even against a Florida defense that's given up, what, almost 40 points per game in SEC play. I can't confidently say that the Texas offense is going to put up crazy numbers. So I'm going to go with the Longhorns in a lower-scoring game and an under game, and I'm going to take Florida to cover, but I do think Texas gets some revenge and finds a much-needed win against the Gators on Saturday. two battered fans here now you can tell right you can tell some Gator fans are probably like is this guy crazy they're gonna kill us but Texas fans are like yeah no this game could be very close on Saturday despite how bad Florida's looked these last two weekends both of us have lost a little bit of our swagger I do want to say this my superstitions are tingling so I said this last week the first two weeks of SEC play both of the opposing uh fan or representative picked their team we won and then in mizzou and south carolina they picked us to win we lost and now you're picking your team so hopefully hopefully if there's any type of correlation there i wanted a way to tell you i don't want to lead you hopefully we can get back on the train so i'm i'm glad you picked texas oh gosh yeah now i'm regretting it now i'm like oh maybe can i change my pick can i change my pick you jinxed him you jinxed him no look brad i appreciate it man. It's been a blast to pick your brain and to have some insight of what to look for headed into this Texas team. Again, Colin Simmons is no joke. He's got a lot of talent on that side of the ball. It should be a fun one. I've had a lot of fun talking smack. Obviously, we had some recruiting battles in the offseason with Jaden Ball, and you guys got Coach Jalouk over there now. I want to ask you one last thing about how he's doing and your thoughts of him. Jaden Woods, y'all were trying to snatch from us, so us being able to retain those, it was a fun little bickering back and forth. Obviously, us coming off the win from last year so we would like to maintain the momentum here and we essentially just snatched Eastern Royal from off to the field battle so i would love to get a win so we can maintain that but your thoughts on Jaluk and we'll let you get out of here man um not great like i don't think it's Jabar Jaluk's fault per se but the Texas running game has been incredibly inconsistent and in their three games let me make sure i have this stat right but in their three games against powerful opponents they're averaging less than three yards a carry uh now this was a huge problem for Texas last year as well uh they had a position coach by the name of Chad Scott who was one and done obviously they bring in Jabar Jaluk they bring in two first team all conference backs from the portal one in Jayden Ball Florida ponied up kept him there but Texas brought in Hollywood Smothers who was first team all ACC at NC State and Raleigh Brown who was first team all Big 12 at Arizona State they also have speaking of Florida five-star freshman Derrick Cooper from the Sunshine State so like they totally changed over the personnel they changed over the coach but the results are the same. It's just not good enough. And again, a lot of it's the offensive line, just not up to snuff, not creating enough holes. I think that's the majority of the issue. Some of it's on run scheme as well, which I don't know how much say Jabar Jaluk has because it's Steve Sarkeesian's offense. But again, I don't think it's really Jalouk's fault, but the results that Texas were looking for in their run game just have not been there to this point in the season. So is that a product of playing really good defenses? And hey, you're playing some weaker ones coming up. Maybe you'll get it in gear, or is it just this team's never going to be able to consistently run the football? They didn't run it all that well against Texas State or UTSA in their two G6 non-conference games. So, yeah, the run game has been an issue there. Again, I don't know if it's on Jalouk at all, but it has not been what Texas fans have been looking for, that's for sure. That could be where Florida fans can lean on a little bit. I think we've done well stopping the run for the most part. Obviously, the yards don't tell an entire story. South Carolina be one of the better rushing teams in the country. Mizzou as well. they were able to run on us but not as effectively as maybe the stats show and if you already have a lackluster running football team we can maybe you know do what we basically do maintain it and it's going to have having to maintain Arch's arm which we have not been able to do we haven't shown any signs of that so this could like you said be a true test of like do we finally get the Arch that we've all been hoping for and for Florida fans can we attack on Arch kind of like other teams have been able to do will be a telltale sign yeah here's the good news for y'all right like i think of that Mizzou game and sorry to bring it up to your audience, but like, I mean, Noah Roberts, it felt like he was breaking free on every carry that he had, right? Texas has three 20 plus yard runs this entire season. And they've gone 140 straight rushing attempts without a 20 yard run. Wow. So they cannot, they have no ability to break a big run whatsoever. Again, some of the consistency isn't there. It's not like they're averaging six yards a carry and it's just six yards every single play they're getting stuffed a lot but they they have no stats to skew their rushing numbers to make them look better because they have no home run ability on the ground right now so that could be good news for the Florida defense that might be the angle look we knew ours gonna have to throw and I mean I think if you're Texas fans you're going into this game expecting to beat Florida with his arm and with that wide receiving core so if you can continue to suffocate the run and look I mean this is the thing that I've leaned on since last year it's the pressure how can Arch handle that he showed it to me at Ohio State i was very impressed gave him his flowers how he was able to nut up and go handle that game but has still looked wobbly at times Brad this has been great man i appreciate you hopping in here having great conversations good luck to you on Saturday and for the rest of the season this could be you know a turning point for for Texas if things don't go the right way for Florida we're kind of we're still waiting for us but thanks again Brad i appreciate it and we'll see you man yeah man enjoy the work that you guys do appreciate you having me on. Thank you, man.