The Good, Bad and Ugly of Texas' Week 3 Performance vs. UTEP Miners

"It was good to win. I'll start with that. It could be worse -- we could lose," Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said to open his postgame press conference Saturday.

A win is a win, but when it came to a 27-10 victory on Saturday, the Longhorns did not spark much confidence from their fanbase in the matchup against the UTEP Miners.

Once again, the Texas offense did not impress while the defense continued to prove itself as one of the nation's best, leading to concerns about the lack of balance in the Longhorns' gameplay.

Here is the good, bad and ugly of Texas's performance in Week 3:

Good

Sep 13, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns defensive backs Graceson Littleton (29) and Caleb Chester (25) react after Littleton made an interception during the second half against the Texas El Paso Miners at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

For the third straight game, the Texas defense gave its opposition very little wiggle room, especially on later downs. The Longhorns forced the Miners to go 4-of-15 on third down and 0-of-3 on fourth down, and earned two interceptions off UTEP quarterback Malachi Nelson.

Texas only allowed 50 rushing yards on 23 attempts, again dominating in the trenches. Over the first three weeks, opposing offenses have totaled just 216 yards on the ground.

"Our defense was fantastic," Sarkisian said postgame. "They continue to play a style and a brand of football defensively that is definitely winning football. They negated really the explosive plays, maybe there until the end, eliminated the run, traded turnovers."

Sarkisian specifically highlighted safety Jelani McDonald (six total tackles, interception), as well as linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. (three total tackles) and defensive tackle Hero Kanu (sack, two tackles for loss).

Another bright spot for Texas on Saturday was special teamer Ryan Niblett, who accumulated 115 yards across five kick and punt returns, averaging above 20 yards per return on both fronts. Niblett has shown he can be reliable and potentially a game-changer for the Longhorns on special teams.

Bad

Sep 6, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns running back Jerrick Gibson (9) runs for yards during the second half against the San Jose State Spartans at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Yes, the 226-rushing-yard performance looks good, but the Longhorns ran the ball over twice as much as they threw it. That left much to be desired from the offense.

Throughout much of the game, the Texas offense looked predictable with uncreative playcalling. There was a lack of stability in the passing game stemming from quarterback Arch Manning, who seemed to lack the confidence to take over the game with his arm. The result was a heavily-relied-upon run game plagued with repetitiveness and short gains.

Even after losing running back CJ Baxter on his first carry of the game and without Quintrevion Wisner for the second week in a row, Texas trusted its running back depth to lead it to victory on Saturday.

The trio of Christian Clark, Jerrick Gibson and James Simon combined for 42 carries for 163 rushing yards (3.9 yards per carry) against UTEP, totaling 47.9% of Texas' total offense. Manning added 51 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, but the frequency of his scrambling led to him taking more hits than would've been liked when scrambling.

The playcalling needs to be cleaner to help the Longhorns ease into a more well-rounded offensive game plan moving forward.

Ugly

Sep 13, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) looks to the pass the ball during the second half against the Texas El Paso Miners at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

With 1:27 left on the clock in the second quarter, the Longhorns were only up 7-3 on their Conference USA opponents. Manning was 4-of-14 in the passing game for just 58 yards and with an interception.

At that moment, following a Jack Bouwmeester punt to return the ball to the Miners, the concern wasn't just how poor the offense looked, but whether the Longhorns would be able to turn it around to comfortably win the game.

Luckily, Manning hit paydirt with his legs for the second time only minutes later, and Texas went on to win by three scores. But it was no secret that there was a serious struggle to move the ball against a team that the Longhorns undeniably outmatched.

"Maybe [this kind of play] slides against UTEP, but it's not gonna win us games in the SEC. [I've] got to play better," Manning acknowledged postgame.

There was practically no explosiveness from an offense that, even against UTEP, did not look threatening. In the end, Texas obtained just 114 yards through the air, outgained by 95 by the Miners. Manning achieved 4.6 yards per pass and had only two more completions than he had rush attempts.

"They were dropping into a lot of coverage, and I thought I could have been more patient and just wait for things to open up," Manning said. "But ultimately, got to be better. We made them look way better. So it's frustrating."

A forefront frustration in the passing offense was the lack of chemistry and precision in the Manning-Ryan Wingo connection. A clear example was on a redzone trip in the second quarter, when Manning missed Wingo for a touchdown on third down and then threw the interception targeting him on the ensuing play.

Through the first three games, Wingo has just nine receptions for 97 yards in a sophomore season highlighted in the preseason as a potential breakout year. But Wingo's first touchdown of the season, caught with 3:40 left in the fourth quarter, could be the spark the quarterback-receiver duo desperately needed.

"I told [Wingo] after, 'now let's catch our groove and get rolling,'" Manning said. "So hopefully we can build off this, even though there was a lot of negative, build off it and get better. That's the only thing we can do now."

After an offseason of unprecedented hype, the sole way to describe Manning's first three games is disappointing. Straightforwardly, he has not looked like a highly-ranked quarterback who has been developing in a top-tier system for three years. But the mechanical flaws can be fixed, the accuracy prioritized and the confidence matured.

There's still a non-conference home game against Sam Houston State and a bye week to straighten things out before Southeastern Conference play.

"We're gonna have to have a good week of practice and be intent in everything we do, and stack good days of practices and go play hard on Saturday night," Manning said. "So it's gonna be a tough week of practice, but we gotta get back going and it starts with me."

There will be no limit to the motivation of Manning and the Longhorns in the coming weeks.