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Insider Names One Thing Texas Needs to Fix on Offense

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Brendan Howe | Last updated Jul 7, 2025 10:48 PM ET

It’s a statistic that every football coach cares about. Get inside the 20-yard line and you’re expected to pass the goal line, too. Steve Sarkisian and his Texas Longhorns didn’t have the best success with that last season.

Texas ranked 88th in red zone scoring percentage last regular season. It scored touchdowns on 39 of 56 red zone trips. Inside Texas’ Joe Cook joined “Andy & Ari On3” last week and explained the biggest fix that Arch Manning and the Longhorns’ offense has to make this upcoming go-round.

“If this is a small problem in an era where there are no perfect teams, the small, yet magnified 500% problem, then it’s something that Steve Sarkisian is typically able to fix,” Cook said. “He has a problem solver’s mentality. He’s done that via the portal. He’s done that with how he’s approached play calling, defense, offense, all that.

“If there was a big problem last year, it was … red zone scoring, red zone touchdown conversions. That’s something that, of course, Texas fans are gonna key in on.”

Of course, the most frustrating instance of red zone failure came during the late stages of the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl. Despite getting to the 1-yard line against Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes, Quinn Ewers and the offense sputtered, eventually turning the ball over for the game-sealing score.

"It's unfortunate that was the circumstance, because it was a really nice drive by the offense to get down there and then first-and-goal from the one and you don't score, quite frankly you probably don't deserve to win that way,” Sarkisian said after.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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