Texas Fans Should Listen To What Nick Saban Says About Their Glaring Issues

Legendary head coach Nick Saban has concerns over the Texas Longhorns as they enter SEC play.

Sep 9, 2023; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian greets Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban midfield before their game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-Imagn Images / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

It's no secret that the Texas Longhorns have not had the start to the season they envisioned on the offensive side of the ball. After early-season struggles, they seemed to turn a corner in their last game, en route to a dominant win over the Sam Houston Bearkats.

However, the "pre-season" is now over, as head coach Steve Sarkisian alludes to, and his offense will take the field against the best competition in the country as they enter conference play. Entering with confidence from their last performance, though, not everyone is on board yet that the offense is fixed.

That includes legendary head coach Nick Saban, who told The Pat McAfee Show that they still have glaring issues that give him concern for the rest of their season.

Tough Test To Get Right

Aug 30, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian watches his team against Ohio State Buckeyes during the first quarter at Ohio Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Robertson - Imagn Images / Kyle Robertson/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Sarkisian and Saban have a long history together. The Longhorns' head coach had two separate stints as the offensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide. His first time in 2016, he joined the staff as an analyst, but was promoted to interim OC, before leaving and joining back three years later as the offensive coordinator from 2019-2020. He would leave his role there to become the head coach at the Forty Acres.

Those two have spent a lot of time together shaping an offense for one of college football's most dominant dynasties, and Saban knows that if he were to call up Sarkisian, he could identify the issues and what they need to do to solve them.

“If I called Steve Sarkisian right now and said, ‘What are you concerned about?’ He would probably say, ‘Well, we haven’t been able to run the ball with the kind of consistency that we’d like to, so we don’t have to put everything on the quarterback. And then, the quarterback has been a little bit inconsistent in his fundamental accuracy,” Saban said Friday afternoon on the Pat McAfee Show. “It’s getting better, but not where he’d like for it to be. I think their defense has been pretty good, but I think they need to get those two things fixed on offense and they’re going to play against a really good defensive team.”

Ideally, knowing the problems would mean they would be fixed. Still, with adjustment periods for the offensive line and quarterback Arch Manning, compounded with injuries throughout the running back room, the Longhorns have struggled to resolve their problems five weeks into the season. Now hitting the road for the first time since the start of the season, they face a stingy defense that has only given up five touchdowns this season.

With a strong showing, though, it could send a message that the offense outburst in their win over the Bearkats wasn't just a one-off performance, and they are hitting their stride at the perfect time of the season.

The Longhorns travel to Gainesville to take on the Gators Oct. 4 at 2:30 p.m. CT

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