This is the Depth Dossier: the Texas Longhorns, Week 7.

Texas found a brand new way to blow a game this week, and this time they lost their best defender in the process, falling 27 to 24 to Florida after leading by two touchdowns.

Let's start with how it slipped away. Running back Raleek Brown's 32-yard touchdown run and a 63-yard punt return score from wide receiver Ryan Niblett had Texas up 17 to 3. Then the offense just shut down. Florida controlled the ball for almost 40 minutes, put together two long scoring drives, and held Texas to two conversions on ten third-down tries and just 272 total yards. Quarterback Arch Manning did find tight end Emmett Mosley the fifth for a 62-yard fourth-down strike that set up a late touchdown from wide receiver Cam Coleman, but a strip-sack with under two minutes left ended the comeback bid. Florida's head coach, Jon Sumrall, got his program's first road win over a top ten team since 2012.

The time of possession number says it all. Florida held the ball 38 minutes to Texas's 22. At one stretch, Texas went from the middle of the second quarter into the fourth without picking up a single first down, including back-to-back three-and-outs in the third quarter that totaled just 8 yards.

Fourth down decisions made it worse. Texas went for it twice in short yardage and failed both times, once in the second quarter and once at midfield in the fourth, and both times Florida immediately cashed in with scoring drives.

Special teams cut both ways. Niblett's 63-yard punt return touchdown tied the Texas career record with three, but Florida's punter answered with kicks of 75 and 70 yards that pinned Texas deep twice. Whatever field position Texas's defense earned got wiped out by the punting battle.

A couple other numbers stand out. Texas's only turnover of the game was the strip-sack that sealed it, continuing a streak of no takeaways in back-to-back conference games. And Manning took five sacks but still threw the longest offensive play of Texas's season on that throw to Mosley.

Now to the depth chart, and the injury that matters most. Edge rusher Colin Simmons left early in the fourth quarter holding his ankle after getting treatment on the sideline in the third. He was ruled out for the rest of the game, and it's not yet clear how long he'll be out. Before leaving, he had four tackles for loss and a sack, his fourth multi-tackle-for-loss game in five outings. If he misses time, expect the backup edge rushers behind Barryn Sorrell to see a lot more snaps.

There was some better injury news before kickoff. Defensive lineman Justus Terry returned after missing four straight games, and offensive lineman Jordan Coleman came off the injury report and played, steadying two spots that had been in question.

At quarterback, nothing's changing, Manning is still the clear starter. But the receiver pecking order is sorting itself out. Mosley's fourth-down grab was the biggest offensive play of the season for Texas, and paired with Coleman's touchdown, those two look like the go-to targets in big moments. Jermaine Bishop and Ryan Wingo remain the perimeter and screen options, a step behind.

In the backfield, the split between Brown and Hollywood Smothers stays the same, with Brown's touchdown the only real spark in an otherwise stalled running game.

Texas is now on a two-game losing streak to unranked teams, with four straight ranked conference opponents coming up. How head coach Steve Sarkisian handles the Simmons situation, and whether he rethinks those fourth-down calls, could decide whether this season still has a path forward.

This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.