Film Room: Why is Arch Manning Taking So Many Sacks?

The No. 7 Texas Longhorns have a problem: they cannot keep quarterback Arch Manning clean.

The former No.1 recruit has already been sacked more times through eight games of this season than he did throughout all of 2025. He has taken at least five sacks in three of his last five games.

What is going wrong with head coach Steve Sarkisian's offense? Can he figure it out before the Longhorns head to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to play the country's leader in sack-percentage, the No. 15 LSU Tigers?

Why Can Texas Not Protect Arch?

Texas Longhorns offensive lineman Andre Cojoe against the Clemson Tigers during the CFP National playoff first round | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Texas' first problem is with man pass-protection assignments.

There are three main types of standard drop-back pass-protection: big-on-big, full-slide and half-slide.

Big-on-big, also known as B.O.B. or man protection, is when blockers are assigned to block the man across from them. It avoids mismatches, makes it clear to the quarterback who the potential unblocked blitzers are and is the simplest scheme to run, however it struggles to pick up stunts and can make pockets less predictable.

Slide or zone protection has all five offensive linemen block the gap to their left or right, depending on which side the slide is to, and makes the back pick up the end man on the line of scrimmage away from the slide. It picks up blitzes and stunts well but also typically relies on a running back to block a defensive end.

Half-slide or combination protection merges the first two, with three or four offensive linemen sliding to one side and the remaining one or two playing man to the other side. It combines the strengths and weaknesses of the other two.

The Texas line does well in slide protections, but struggles with man assignments, both because certain linemen lack pass-protecting skills and because they all struggle with stunts. Take this play for example:

Here the Mississippi State Bulldogs have five players in the box and a sixth defender who is stacked, meaning that there is a safety directly behind them.

This places four potential rushers to the right of the center, creating an 'overload.'

Texas responds by calling a half-slide to the overloaded side, leaving the left side of the line to pick up the weak-side defensive tackle and end and the back to pick up the linebacker.

The Bulldogs only end up rushing four, however they call a T-E stunt on both sides. This means that both defensive tackles crash into the offensive tackles, allowing the defensive ends to loop around behind them and attempt to pressure Manning up the middle.

The slide-side handles their assignments fine, however the man-side gets completely duped, leading to an easy sack.

However, the blame does not fall solely at the offensive line's feet.

Manning has also had difficulty not finding open receivers and taking sacks because of it. Whether it is because he is stuck to his first read, not confident in his pass-catcher or waiting for a deep route to come open, holding on to the ball has been an issue since at least Texas' first loss of the season to the Oklahoma Sooners.

Manning is a great deep-ball passer so it makes sense that he would prefer to take those shots rather than work the short-game, however the Texas offense is taking too many negative plays for him to keep that mindset. If he starts taking what the defense gives him, he will alleviate the pressure on his offensive line and preserve his body for the long road to the National Championship.

Fortunately for Manning and Sarkisian, outside of LSU, the Longhorns finish their schedule against the country's 44th, 113th and 135th teams by sacks per-game. If they can keep Manning relatively clean against LSU and get him healed up before the post-season, the Longhorns could be a serious title contender.

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