What The Stats Say About The Texas Longhorns vs. San Jose State Spartans

What does the analytics say about the Texas Longhorns week two matchup?

Aug 30, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian before the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

With the Longhorns' week one loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes, and a game decided between tough defensive battles, they will look to kickstart their offense as they welcome the San Jose State Spartans to Austin in the week two affair.

With quarterback Arch Manning struggling in the first half of last weekend's game, and emphasis could be placed on establishing a rhythm early in the passing game, while they look to the defense to keep up their performance against the defending national champions.

So, what else does that stats say about the Longhorns home opener against the Spartans?

Find A Way To Get The Passing Game Going

Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end Kenyatta Jackson Jr. (97) attempt to sack Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) in the second half at Ohio Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. | Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When the Longhorns played the Buckeyes last weekend, the question wasn't which offense would be better, but how would Ryan Day's team stop the Manning offense? As much as they stopped the Longhorns' offense, they seemingly stopped themselves. The pedestrian offense, partnered with a subpar performance, especially in the first half from the new Longhorns signal caller, left a lot to be desired.

Looking at their expected points added per pass, they ranked 132nd in the country out of 136 teams. They had a -.27 expected points per play, and their passing success ranked 122nd at 28.1 percent. While struggles were expected in week one, especially against one of the country's top defenses, numbers that low are staggering and leave question marks for the rest of the season.

For the Longhorns, the Spartans' defense is the perfect team to fix the wrongs from the week one performance. They allow 8.8 yards per pass, ranking 88th in the country heading into the second week of the season. The Spartans also failed to collect a sack against Central Michigan, and going against the Longhorns' group should allow Manning to stand in the pocket and build up his confidence.

Those yards per pass numbers are even more staggering considering the Chippewas only threw 20 percent of the time against the Spartans, the second-lowest percentage in the country. Those numbers might not tell the whole story, and the Longhorns' passing attack should be able to rebound from their performance against the Buckeyes.

Finding a rhythm early for Manning, especially among the first two drives, will allow him to build his confidence back to what it was, and let the offense gel more, chaining together successful consecutive offensive drives. This could be the week the Longhorns' signal caller shows who he has been hyped up to be

The Longhorns will host the Spartans on Sept. 6, in Austin, Texas, at 11 a.m. CT.