‘Big, little’ Texas running game faces bigger challenge in Ohio State

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AUSTIN, Texas — The new-look running game for the Texas Longhorns set the tone early in Saturday’s 59-7 win over the Texas State Bobcats — on the first play from scrimmage, head coach Steve Sarkisian called for a run behind All-American left tackle Trevor Goosby, who combined with two tight ends and Ryan Wingo to allow Hollywood Smothers to bounce the run.

The NC State transfer did the rest, using a cornerback’s desire to leverage the play against him with a sharp cup upfield, stiff-arming the next defender that tried to bring him, and gaining 45 yards on the play.

In one play, Smothers nearly matched the longest run of the 2025 season by a Texas running back — a 48-yard effort by Quintrevion Wisner against Texas A&M — a bold announcement of improvement after Sarkisian rebuilt the running game from the ground up, hiring a new position coach in Jabbar Juluke, bringing in Arizona State transfer Raleek Brown from the portal along with Smothers, signing a top-10 high school back in Derrek Cooper, and adding three transfer offensive linemen who are now in the rotation.

Smothers in particular flashed his smoothness, vision, and savviness in securing the starting job over Brown, gaining 70 yards on 10 carries while adding three catches for 28 yards and a touchdown through the air.

Texas did also have some success running duo, but needs to get better executing outside zone, the running play that Sarkisian prefers to major in every year and one that should allow the line to take advantage of the athleticism that makes it so effective in pass protection.

Overall, the consistency was lacking for the Longhorns as the Bobcats recorded seven non-sack tackles for loss in a “big, little” performance by Texas as the running game finished with 156 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries, but only produced one other run of 15 or more yards after the opening play, a 21-yard score by Brown in the third quarter.

“We know when we have the threat of running the football, that’s when we’re at our best as an offensive football team, and I think there were there were too many times today where it was gain of one, gain of none, gain of two, and so how do we find that consistency that a bad run is four yards or three yards? Second and 7 is a heck of a lot better than 2nd and 10,” Sarkisian said after the game.

Beyond the performance by Smothers, the effort of the Texas running backs against Texas State largely rlacked decisiveness.

“I felt like at times we were dancing a little too much with the ball in our hands,” Sarkisian said.

The defensive game plan played a role as well — like many opponents who are overmatched physically in the trenches, the Bobcats tried to disrupt the blocking schemes for the Longhorns by slanting, a particularly effective strategy when Texas was running pin and pull and outside zone, as well as using some stunts and other movement.

“There’s some things where we didn’t have great angles on plays as the game went on,” Sarkisian said.

Some improvement should come from better conditioning, health, and continuity on the left side of the line.

Goosby missed the second scrimmage when he suffered a bone bruise in his knee that cost him two weeks of practice and left him still playing through some pain and with less than optimal conditioning in hot conditions against Texas State.

The decision to play on Saturday was made between Goosby, the coaching staff, and the medical staff with some increased pressure put on it because everyone wanted the big left tackle to get some game reps before facing off against Ohio State.

Next to Goosby at left guard, Western Kentucky transfer Laurence Seymore also missed time during preseason camp with an injury, and rotated with Dylan Sikorski, the surprise starter after transferring from Oregon State.

With chemistry along the offensive line at a premium, getting more reps for both guards with Goosby should benefit the Longhorns over the next several weeks as the coaching staff maintains a rotation at left guard.

For Sarkisian, as well as SEC analyst Cole Cubelic, a major area for improvement was on straining more to finish plays.

“I felt like we could have strained a little bit more in the run game, and that’s all parties involved — I’m not talking just about the O-line, there’s opportunities for tight ends, there’s opportunities for receivers that could have created some bigger runs,” Sarkisian said.

It’s an area where junior wide receiver Cam Coleman still needs to grow after earning the team’s lowest run-blocking grade of 45.7 from Pro Football Focus, a one-game regression from the major gains that he made from his freshman to his sophomore year at Auburn.

At tight end, the Longhorns received strong efforts from senior Spencer Shannon, sophomore Nick Townsend, and sophomore Emaree Winston, but received a disappointing performance from fifth-year Michael Masunas, the Michigan State transfer who arrived in Austin with a reputation as an effective run blocker that wasn’t fully backed up his PFF grades, an effort that helps explain why Masunas didn’t earn the starting job over Shannon as expected.

“Everybody’s got to take a step forward from Week 1 to Week 2, and generally that can happen as long as we’re coachable, and then as long as we apply the things that we need to apply to try to get better,” Sarkisian said.

The challenge stiffens considerably against Ohio State this week as the Buckeyes bring the nation’s top defensive in SP+ to Austin after holding Ball State to 45 yards on 23 carries in last weekend’s 59-3 blowout win.

“As far as Ohio State’s interior defensive line, they’re deep, they’re talented. Larry Johnson has been there a long, long time. He’s a heck of a coach,” Sarkisian said on Monday. “I know they lost some of the veteran guys — they still have some — but they’re good and they’re a penetrating group, they’re active. They do a good job of collapsing the pocket in the pass game, and they’re stout in the run game.”

As Arch Manning struggled in the passing game in last season’s 14-7 loss to the Buckeyes, the running game was a bright spot, notching 166 yards on 4.5 yards per carry, but Texas can’t simply expect to do replicate that success.

“I don’t think it’s a rinse-repeat, and I think that’s a mistake you can make is that hey, we’re good against this team, let’s just do the same thing again, because there’s really good coaches that we coach against, and they’re making adjustments, too,” Sarkisian said.

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